Chronic diseases

General information

Chronic diseases and conditions which often also have a high mortality rate are important public health issues.

General information about chronic diseases

Memory disorders

Progressive memory disorders pose a challenge for public health and national economy - as the population ages, the number of people suffering from memory disorders increases.

Memory disorders

Chronic Diseases: Everyone’s Business

Chronic diseases affect 8 out of 10 people aged over 65 in Europe. Joint Action on Chronic Diseases and Promoting Healthy Ageing across the Life Cycle (JA-CHRODIS) aims to capture the best of this knowledge and make it accessible across Europe.

What's new

New WHO Guidelines for reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia

Adopting a healthy lifestyle helps reduce the risk of dementia

Coronary heart disease mortality has decreased by 80 percent

Coronary heart disease mortality among Finnish working aged men and women decreased by approximately 80% from years 1969/1972 to 2012. About two thirds of the reduction could be explained by changes in smoking prevalence, serum cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure.

All news

Topic information

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) studies risk factors for chronic diseases and possibilities to prevent chronic diseases. THL monitors the development of diseases and risk factors in the population and develops preventive methods. THL also gives recommendations on the prevention of diseases at individual and population levels.