Iatrogenic and Lifestyle-Related Diseases Account for the Vast Majority of Chronic Illnesses

A medical scientist once joked that in the transmission of infectious diseases such as hepatitis B, doctors have made the greatest contribution. Indeed it is so: it was precisely the advent of medical devices such as syringes and scalpels that gave human disease a new route of transmission. Hepatitis B and similar infectious diseases are ancient, but in the past they were never as widespread as now. The reason is none other than that in former times there were not as many sources of hepatitis B infection. Many hepatitis B patients are iatrogenic patients. There are also many other diseases, such as certain bacterial infections, that are spread from hospitals. This kind of hospital infection has a professional term in the medical industry—"hospital-acquired infection" (yuan'gan)—which is a subdiscipline of medicine studied by many people. The superbugs currently acquired in hospitals cannot be dealt with by existing antibiotics; once infected with a superbug, the mortality rate is extremely high.

So some basic common sense of ordinary people—such as the everyday notion that it is best to avoid places like hospitals—is quite correct. I myself don't go to the hospital unless there's a reason; minor ailments I handle myself, and only for major illness would I go to a hospital.

Another category of disease is called lifestyle-related disease: some cancers, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia patients suffer from illnesses caused by poor lifestyle habits. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare defines many adult diseases as lifestyle-related diseases; these conditions are likewise caused by poor dietary habits, exercise habits, and sleep-wake routines. According to statistics, in large cities roughly 50% of people now have various lifestyle-related diseases.

These two categories account for the overwhelming majority of chronic diseases, and both were originally avoidable. But because ordinary people lack medical knowledge and the perseverance to form good habits, they gradually develop one ailment or another.