on October 30 | in LIFEWISE, MONEYWISE | by admin | with No Comments

In South Africa, heart disease and strokes are the leading causes of death, after HIV/Aids. But cardiovascular diseases are not just killers – they disable too, being responsible for 15% of all disability claims at Old Mutual’s group income claims, according to Neil Parkin, Group Assurance Actuary at Old Mutual Corporate.

The South African Heart and Stroke Foundation asserts that five heart attacks occur every hour in South Africa, with one in four of these proving fatal.According to the World Health Organisation, more people die globally from cardiovascular diseases than any other cause – 17 million people each year – and this is set to soar to 23 million over the next 17 years.

To illustrate the situation in South Africa, Old Mutual analysed its disability income claims over the last 10 years. The results showed that cardiovascular conditions are the second leading cause of disability, being responsible for 15% of all claims.

The graph below gives the proportion of Old Mutual’s group disability income claims attributable to cardiovascular conditions.

There is a clear increase in the impact with age. For people over age 50, cardiovascular diseases are responsible for 1 out of every 5 claims, says Parkin.

A common myth when it comes to heart disease is that it’s exclusively a male problem. The World Health Organisation’s research shows this is not true, with cardiovascular disease occurring almost equally in men and women in low- and middle-income countries.

“To test this, we split our analysis by gender”, ads Parking. Although men tend to have a higher proportion of claims due to cardiovascular diseases, it is evident that these conditions are also a significant contributor to female disability.

Once a disability income claim is accepted by an insurer, the monthly benefit is payable until  the person recovers, dies or reaches their retirement age.

On average we paid claimants with cardiovascular disease for four years. In 45% of cases, the claims were stopped  due to the death of the member, with only 12% being able to return to work.

The graph below gives the proportion of claims ending due to death, recovery and retirement.

These numbers show the dramatic effect of cardiovascular disease on people’s ability to return to work, especially as they get older. This clearly underscores the importance of disability and death cover. Even more importantly, it highlights the need for greater effort in addressing the underlying reasons for the prevalence of these diseases.

The World Health Organisation estimates that 23% of the global heart disease burden is a result of people being overweight. It is estimated that up to 80% of lifestyle diseases can be prevented by addressing lifestyle factors, such as smoking, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity, concludes Parkin.

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