The first signal is already there. There will be an increase in demand for health services

• NIZP-PZH has just published the report "The health situation of the Polish population and its determinants 2025"
• We asked the director of NIZP-PZH what conclusions can be drawn from the latest report
• Unfortunately, there are disturbing trends in health self-assessment, which is falling. This is usually a prognosis, it may mean an increase in the demand for health services in the future - says Bernard Waśko
• It also indicates a slowdown in the growth rate of life expectancy and a large difference between the life expectancy of women and men in Poland.

When asked about the conclusions of the latest NIZP-PZH report, Bernard Waśko pointed out in an interview with Rynek Zdrowia, among other things, "the slowdown in the pace of improvement of various health indicators for the Polish population, related primarily to life expectancy, but also to such indirect indicators as the number of avoidable deaths."

- And here we still lag behind. We have stopped improving as a society - he warns.

As he says, this year, for the second time, the Institute also carried out a large-scale study of the subjective assessment of citizens' health to learn about their feelings.

- This study was compared to the last one, which was done in 2018, i.e. the last year before COVID. And here, unfortunately, we can see disturbing trends in this self-esteem, which is falling - indicates the director of NIZP-PZH.

As he adds, "this is usually a prognosis that it may mean an increase in demand for health services in the future."

- And as the results of research currently conducted around the world, published for example by WHO, show, these subjective feelings of patients, not only objective indicators, should not be underestimated - the expert points out.

The report - as it points out - also shows that we returned to pre-pandemic life expectancies in 2023.

- The pandemic was a big threat. However, we have now returned more or less to the pre-pandemic path - he says, and notes that this does not mean that we have returned to the path of such dynamics of improvement of these indicators that we observed the fastest since 1990, more or less until 2015. - This trend has slowed down now. And this is what is worrying - he admits.

- The significant difference of almost 8 years in the life expectancy of women and men is also worrying . This is also a very worrying indicator - assesses Bernard Waśko.

As he adds, this difference is not caused by biology or genes, because there are no such differences in other European Union countries. It is also not a result of the functioning of the healthcare system, because it works the same for everyone. This difference therefore results from various health determinants, which lie mainly with citizens and affect their health, so there is a lot to improve in this area.

The report showed that circulatory system diseases and cancer are still mainly responsible for deaths in Poland.

- This is changing a bit. In some cases, cancers have overtaken circulatory system disease. Not only because of the growing incidence. It is constantly, steadily, but growing. This is a bit of a price of civilization development that we pay for. However, it is also a result of improving activities in the area of ​​cardiovascular deaths. The state has done a lot in this area - emphasizes Bernard Waśko.

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