At least 35 percent of Beijingers are suffering from various chronic diseases, a health official said.

While a quarter of Beijingers suffer from high blood pressure, 7.7 percent of them have diabetes, said Liang Wannian, deputy director of Beijing Health Bureau, while releasing to the public a report on the average citizens' health situation.

Liang said last Saturday that ambulances of 120 Emergency Center, the city's major first-aid facility, made 3,714 trips over the past week. Fifty-one percent of these trips were dialed for patients who suffered from chronic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

He said there are genetic as well as environmental reasons for chronic diseases. "We can do little to prevent certain hereditary diseases, but a healthy lifestyle has proven effective in minimizing the risk for many diseases," said Liang.

Smoking, drinking, obesity, inadequate exercises and high blood fat are universally recognized as main risk factors for chronic diseases, he added.

"If these factors are to be controlled, 40 to 70 percent of the chronic disease sufferers will live a longer life and the incidence rate of high blood pressure alone will lower by 55 percent," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2005)