Philips announced ‘Turkey Health Trends’ changing with COVID-19

According to Turkey Health Trends 2021 of Philips research, the star of the pandemic is

digital health technologies.

According to the research, there is an increase in the number of people who are not satisfied with their current health status. While 79 percent of the public rated their current health status as “good”, this figure was 89 percent in 2019.

The number of people who want to be examined by communicating with their doctor remotely in simple diseases has increased with the pandemic period. The figure, which was 38 percent in 2019, increased significantly to 61 percent this year.

With Covid-19, the healthcare system has gone beyond the borders of the hospital. While the rate of those who said “I would prefer to be taken care of at home when possible” was 37 percent, this rate almost doubled to 62 percent in 2021.

The results of the ‘Health Trends Survey in Turkey’, which Philips Turkey carried out for the third time this year in cooperation with IPSOS, compared with other years, with the participation of Haluk Karabatak, CEO of Philips Turkey, Sibel Yıldız, Philips Country Leader Personal Health Turkey & Head of Consumer Marketing Middle East, Turkey & Africa Personal Health, was announced at the press conference moderated by Dr. Fatoş Karahasan. At the meeting, General Surgery Specialist Prof. Dr. Murat Aksoy and Sema Pak Karaca, Senior Research Manager at Ipsos Türkiye also took part.

Commenting on the research, Haluk Karabatak, CEO, Philips Turkey said; “In this research, in which we shed light on the changing health trends and habits with Covid-19 in Turkey, we see that the pandemic has seriously changed the health perception of the society. The health sector is a sector where changes and transformations are slow compared to other sectors. With Covid-19, the digitalization process in the health sector has accelerated. Research also sheds light on this change. As Philips, we are one of the companies leading this change in the field of digital health technologies and we are proud of it.”

Sibel Yıldız, Philips Country Leader Personal Health Turkey & Head of Consumer Marketing MiddleEast, Turkey & Africa Personal Health, said, “One of the most important findings of the research is the increase in public awareness about healthy living and taking precautions with Covid-19. In this context, we see that people take control of their own health in order to lead a healthier and higher quality life. We think that this trend is not unique to this period. Sensitivity and awareness about personal health solutions will continue to increase in the upcoming period. We also offer personalized solutions that support a healthier lifestyle with our personal health solutions.”

General Surgery Specialist Prof. Dr. Murat Aksoy also expressed his views by emphasizing that the pandemic has transformed health services into a service without a place, he said, “According to the findings of the research, the pandemic seems to have changed our perception of health. We observe that both the awareness and the desire to access health services are increasing. Digitalization has made this process easier for both the patient and us. In addition, the research shows us that people’s awareness of dental health and sleep has increased significantly, two issues that have been ignored in general health until today.”

In the Health Trends Survey, the prominent results of the changing trends with Covid-19 in Turkey on healthy living, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and home care, which are called the “Health Cycle”:

8 out of 10 people are worried about their health

While the rate of those who are satisfied with their current health status was 89 percent in the research conducted in 2019, this rate was determined as 79 percent in the new research. According to the research, 8 out of 10 people started to feel anxious about their health with the pandemic period. This anxiety caused them to act more consciously about the health of both themselves and their families. While 89 percent of the respondents stated that they paid more attention to the health of themselves and their families during the pandemic, 72 percent announced that they acquired more healthy living habits during this period. Opinion leaders also expressed that they understand the importance of people following their own health during the pandemic period. Opinion leaders state that there are many important elements that need to be changed in the health habits of the society.

Awareness in health started with ‘weight’

60 percent of those who participated in the study stated that they gained weight during the epidemic. When the Health Trends Survey was conducted in 2019, the rate of those who were satisfied with their weight was determined as 83 percent. This year, the proportion of those who are satisfied with their weight is 45 percent, with a dramatic decrease. According to opinion leaders, sedentary life and weight gain during the closure period negatively affected the course of chronic diseases.

Personal care habits continued at home

The effect of the pandemic was also felt in personal care habits. One out of every 3 people participating in the study stated that personal care habits at home increased during the pandemic period. More than half of these people think that they will continue their personal care routines at home after the pandemic.

Increased awareness of dental health

One of the interesting results of the research is about dental health. While the rate of those who did not go to a dentist in the last 1 year in 2019 was 42 percent, this rate decreased to 37 percent in 2021. While 80 percent of the public stated that oral and dental health is associated with general health, 58 percent think that oral and dental health is related to heart health.

Routine health checks were disrupted during the pandemic period.

According to the results of the Health Trends Survey, there was a decrease in the number of doctors and hospital admissions. While this rate was around 55 percent in 2019, it became 43 percent this year. 46 percent of the participants said that they could not continue their routine health checks during the pandemic period. 63 percent stated that although they wanted to go to the doctor due to health problems, they could not go due to the pandemic. While those who said “I would go to the hospital/specialist doctor immediately” for daily ailments that do not require emergency intervention, decreased from 34 percent in 2019 to 18 percent in 2021.

The rate of those who went to the doctor for heart health increased

The research underlines that hospital/doctor controls are not disrupted when it comes to heart health. Compared to 2019, the number of people who go to regular checkups for heart health has doubled. The rate of those who had their child’s heart health checks regularly increased from 16 percent in 2019 to 27 percent in 2021.

Star of the pandemic: digital health technologies

The number of people who want to be examined by communicating with their doctor remotely in simple diseases has increased with the pandemic period. The figure, which was 38 percent in 2019, increased significantly to 61 percent this year. The rate of participants who think that the virtual meetings with the doctor on telehealth services will be as efficient/quality as the face-to-face examination. Opinion leaders state that the society’s awareness of the opportunities offered by digital health technologies has increased during the pandemic period. Opinion leaders also pointed out that there has been an increase in the interest in consultation, online consultation and therapy services, online appointment and health data systems for physicians via mobile messaging applications. In this context, it was stated that digital health services will have very positive contributions to the sector and will significantly reduce the burden in hospitals. In this way, it is stated that a faster, more accurate, earlier diagnosis can be made, the treatment process can be followed, and it will prevent time loss; It was also pointed out that the data accumulated in the digital environment will facilitate the scientific examination of diseases.

Artificial intelligence will play a supporting role in the decision processes of doctors

According to opinion leaders, the biggest contributions of artificial intelligence technologies to the health sector have been to make sense of doctors’ workflows, reduce their workload and reduce the margin of error. Opinion leaders think that artificial intelligence is not widely used in the Turkish health sector yet, but it can be easily adopted.

Covid-19 changed preferences: Health system beyond hospital borders

The rate of those who said “I prefer to be cared for at home when possible” increased from 37 percent in 2019 to 62 percent in 2021, nearly doubling. Most of the opinion leaders state that, contrary to the views in the 2019 study, Turkey has reached a very good point, although there is still a long way to go in this regard. Home care, which stands out as it reduces the workload of doctors and hospitals, makes room for emergency patients, reduces the risk of hospital virus, and provides great convenience especially for those living alone, is one of the interesting areas of research.

RESEARCH IDENTIFICATION

Turkey Health Trends Survey 2021 was conducted in cooperation with Philips and IPSOS to identify the trends in the changing health field in Turkey with Covid-19, to measure the level of public awareness about health and to determine the relationship between technology and health. Turkey Health Trends Report has been prepared according to the results of the research conducted with 1278 men and women aged 15-64 in 12 provinces*. In the qualitative research, on the other hand, in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 different stakeholders in the opinion leaders group over the phone and online platform.