Chronic diseases are responsible for 7 of 10 deaths each year, and treating people with chronic diseases accounts for the vast majority (over 80%) of our nation’s health care costs. Statistics Austria provides a wide range of important and interesting information on disease statistics specifically for Austria.
While much of the research in our Department is geared towards etiology and identifying causes as well as determinant of chronic disease risk, the flip-side of the coin and another focus of our research is how to prevent disease from developing, taking into account what we have learned through our etiologic research. For example, while most people can probably agree that smoking isn’t healthy, it is much harder to put this knowledge into action: quitting smoking, an extremely well working preventive measure, is just difficult! In prevention research, we investigate, for example, how we can help people to change their behavior towards a healthier lifestyle. An important first, and very empowering, step is to understand one’s own risk: oftentimes simply the realization of the health risks that we expose ourselves to, i.e. through certain learned behaviors, and the potentially shorten lifespan that results from this behavior, can make a tremendous difference in the desire of a person to make substantial changes in their life.
To learn more about your own risks, we are providing a number of tools. Calculate your body mass index, to determine whether you are overweight (which is indicated by a body mass index of 25 or higher) or obese (indicated by a body mass index of 30 or higher). Read about the health risks that individuals may face if they do not lose weight.
Health Risk Calculator
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