The annual report of the health insurance fund Barmer GEK points to serious regional differences in the prevalence of diseases. According to statistics, the residents of Halle and Schwerin in the new federal states are most often seriously ill in Germany, while the residents of Stuttgart and Ulm in Baden-Württemberg are the least ill. And in general, in the eastern federal states, people are sicker and more often than in the west.
This statistics is mainly due to the fact that after the reunification of Germany, many young and healthy citizens of the former GDR moved to the western federal states for work.
In eastern Germany, type 2 diabetes is much more common, with residents of Leipzig, Halle, and Görlitz being the most affected. This diagnosis is least often made in Lower Saxony, Hamburg, and Baden-Württemberg.
Heart attacks are most common in the East German cities of Dessau and Cottbus, while heart diseases are least common in Schleswig-Holstein, southern Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg. It should be noted that in eastern Germany, many live alone in apartments, and living alone, according to experts of the health insurance fund, contributes to the development of serious diseases.
At the same time, the diagnosis of 'depression' is more often made in the west and mainly in large cities – in Hamburg, Bremen, and also in Berlin. Barmer GEK specialists explain this by an 'oversupply of psychotherapists' in large cities and in the old federal states.
A regional pattern was also found for a disease such as alcoholism. Alcohol addiction most often affects people in northern Germany, in port cities – in Hamburg, Kiel, and other settlements on the coast of the North and Baltic Seas. In addition, there are many alcoholics in Berlin.
Finally, Barmer GEK specialists found another regional pattern in the number of flu vaccinations – they are done more often in the east. This may be due to the consequences of the law on mandatory vaccinations that was in effect in the GDR.
Sergei TOKAREV.
