Scabies and sexually transmitted diseases plague young adults – One feature unites – 2024-04-25 07:46:08

The treatment debt of the corona years can be seen in the diagnosis of national diseases and other diseases. During the pandemic, the diagnosis of many diseases froze.

According to data collected by Mehiläinen, diagnoses of high cholesterol have quadrupled from 2019 to 2023.

One of the reasons for this wild growth can be attributed to the doctor in charge of general medicine in Mehiläinen Eino Ahtola including the fact that cholesterol is screened more often. Since the increase in cholesterol is not felt, it can only be found with the help of laboratory tests.

– Everyone over the age of 50 should know their cholesterol level, says Ahtola.

Elevated cholesterol increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed every year more throughout the country. In particular, there has been a large increase in type 2 diabetes in Central Finland.

– Don’t ask why, Ahtola states.

Scabies and STDs can be spread by asymptomatic carriers. Adobe Stock / AOP

Erectile dysfunction on the rise

According to Mehiläinen’s data, the number of diagnoses of erectile dysfunction has increased throughout Finland, but there has been a particular increase in diagnoses in Northern Ostrobothnia and Central Finland.

Ahtola thinks that one of the reasons for the increase in erectile dysfunction diagnoses is that erectile dysfunction is encouraged to be brought up more sensitively at the doctor’s office.

On the other hand, the increase in erectile dysfunction is also related to the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and the increase in the number of mental health disorders.

The number of syphilis diagnoses has been growing wildly. According to Mehiläinen’s data, a particularly large number of prescriptions for scabies have been written in Finland proper.

The age group of young adults is highlighted in syphilitic diagnoses. According to Mehiläinen’s data, the highest number of prescriptions for scabies are also written for young people.

Scabies and sexually transmitted diseases

Ahtola suspects that one of the reasons for the spread of scabies among young adults is that the medicines for scabies can be too expensive for a student’s budget. When the disease is not treated, it spreads.

Scabies is often asymptomatic in its early stages, so there is no need for treatment yet, but scabies can still spread.

The health of young adults is also burdened by venereal diseases. Chlamydia and gonorrhea were diagnosed last year, according to Mehiläinen’s data, much more than before.

A few hundred chlamydia diagnoses have usually been made per year, but in 2023 there were more than 850 of these diagnoses. Gonorrhea has been diagnosed especially in the capital region.

According to Ahtola, STDs can spread randomly, for example, because many STDs are asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms in their initial stages.

Mehiläinen’s data covers the diagnosis information and prescriptions of 1.4 million private health services customers from the years 2019–2023.