Apollo Hospitals has launched the fifth edition of its Health of the Nation 2025 (HoN-2025) report with a clear message: “Don’t wait for symptoms—make preventive health your priority.”
Based on health screenings from over 2.5 million individuals across the Apollo ecosystem in India, the report reveals a silent epidemic, millions are living with undiagnosed chronic conditions despite showing no visible symptoms. Notably, 26% were found hypertensive and 23% diabetic despite being asymptomatic, underlining that a symptom-led healthcare model is no longer viable.
Preventive health checks have grown exponentially as recorded by Apollo Hospitals, rising from 1 million in 2019 to over 2.5 million in 2024 — a 150% increase in just five years. This reflects a growing shift in public awareness and proactive engagement with preventive healthcare.
The insights in HoN 2025 are drawn from de-identified electronic medical records (EMRs of preventive health checks), structured clinical evaluations, and AI-driven risk stratification across Apollo’s hospitals, clinics, diagnostics labs, and wellness centres.
The report zeroes in on three urgent health challenges: fatty liver disease, post-menopausal health decline, and childhood obesity, emphasising the need for early personalised interventions and lifestyle-based care models.
Of the 257,199 individuals screened, a staggering 65% had fatty liver, and 85% of those were non-alcoholic. More than half had normal blood tests, meaning traditional diagnostics alone are not enough for a thorough evaluation.
The HoN 2025 report highlights a dramatic escalation in health risks for women post-menopause. Diabetes rates spike from 14% pre-menopause to 40% post-menopause, obesity climbs sharply from 76% to 86%, and fatty liver prevalence rises from 54% to 70%.
The report found that 8% of primary school students were already overweight or obese—an early indicator. This prevalence increases significantly through adolescence, reaching 28% among college students, highlighting the compounding impact of lifestyle and dietary changes. Additionally, 19% of college students were found to be pre-hypertensive, showing that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are taking root much earlier than previously recognized.
