Essay about Cardiovascular Disease: Annotated Bibliography

Social determinants of cardiovascular diseases are found largely outside the healthcare systems, social factors of cause-and-effect work with traditional risk factors within the health care system to determine ones overall health.

Socio-economic class or socio-economic status (SES) may refer to mixture of various factors such as poverty, occupation and environment. It is a way of measuring the standard and quality of life of individuals and families in society using social and economic factors that affect health and wellbeing ( Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Cockerham (2007 p75) argues: ‘Social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of health, disease causation and longevity in medical sociology.’ Research in the 1990s, (Drever and Whitehead, 1997) found out that people in higher SES are generally healthier, and live longer than those in lower SES.

“The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life” (World Health Organisation (WHO), 2009). The social determinants of health can be divided into 5 categories, age, sex and hereditary factors, individual lifestyle factors, social and community networks, living and working conditions and general socioeconomic, cultural and

Cardiovascular disease is one of the major health problem that most of the countries are facing today and one of such countries is Australia. It is estimated that about 1 million of Australian population is affected by cardiovascular diseases and is among the leading cause of death in Australia ("Department of Health | Cardiovascular disease", 2016). It is also observed that the Aboriginal population of Australia is more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than other Australians ("Department of Health | Cardiovascular disease", 2016). In order to examine the health issue such as cardiovascular disease among Aboriginal men and women using social

This information is however a great place to start to see if a region does in fact tend to be more obese, or if it simply a County wide pandemic. If a region is found to be more obese more data gathering could then be conducted to answer such questions. Therefore as shown for this given data analysis the data gathering methodology is advantageous because of its ease of use and presentation, and also has a disadvantage of being to broad.

Summit County has several factors leading to poor access to comprehensive, quality health care. The poverty rate is 16%, the unemployment rate is 7.2%, and the uninsured rate is 14.1% (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). There is also a high obesity rate of 28.4% . (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). According to Milio's framework for prevention (2014) the people that make up these statistics show that lower income, uninsured individuals have a poor health status compared to employed, insured individuals. Therefore, they are at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease. It is also interesting to mention that in Nancy Milio's research she found that most people, whether low, middle, or upper class, will choose the easiest option available the majority of the time (Nies & McEwen, 2015). People making unhealthy choices such as smoking, abuse of alcohol and/or drugs, eating poorly, and remaining physically inactive, pose the greatest risk to heart disease. These lifestyle choices lead to obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol which are the main causes of cardiovascular

Tobacco use also increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, whether it being smoking or chewing tobacco. The risk is particularly higher if the person started smoking at a young age, smokes heavily and/or if the person is a woman. No matter how long that person has been smoking for, stopping can make a major difference when it comes to cardiovascular diseases. Physical inactivity is also a modifiable risk factor, obesity is a big problem in many countries and it increases the risk of heart diseases by 50%. Obesity also leads people to diabetes, which is also a risk. 31% or coronary heart diseases and 11% of the strokes worldwide are due to a high diet in fats, this is a big deal in certain countries because high diets in fats are seen everywhere. Another factor is being poor. It is normal that low income will make people's lives lean towards a stressful one, one where there is social anxiety, isolation and depression, which are all reasons why a person can get cardiovascular diseases. When someone abuses alcohol, drinking more than two drinks a day, it increases their risks as well. There are a few other modifiable risk factors, such as taking certain medications.

Summary: This article goes on to tell us what a problem obesity is becoming. It’s becoming such a problem that nowadays Overweight and obesity are the main risk factors for many non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, and some types of cancers. Statistics show, in both developed and developing countries, that the prevalence of overweight and obesity is growing. It used to be in just developed countries that obesity and overweight was a problem. But now, it’s a problem in both developed and developing

Crawford, D., Jeffery, R.W., Ball, K. & Brug, J. (Eds.). (2010). Obesity Epidemiology: From Aetiology to Public Health (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Although many individuals are uncertain about the increasing statistics associated with obesity, more than seventy percent of men and virtually sixty-two percent of women within the United States adult population are overweight or obese (Wilmore, Costill, & Kenney). Obesity refers to the condition of having an excessive amount of body fat. If an individual’s amount of body fat becomes too excessive, he/she is at a much greater risk of developing life-altering diseases such as heart failure, hypertension, type II diabetes, cancer, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, etc. (Wilmore, et al., 2008).

The range of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that influence health status are known as determinants of health. Social determinants of health reflect the social factors and physical conditions of the environment in which people are born, live, learn, play, work, and age. According to Florida Public Health, Heart disease was the second leading cause of death in 2012, accounting for41, 643 deaths. The heart disease age-adjusted death rate per 100,000 populations decreased between 1990 and 2012 from 286.5 to 155.3. Heart disease was the leading cause of death among individuals 85 years or older, accounting for 30.0percent of deaths in this age group.

Crimmins, Hayward, Ueda Saito and Kim in there journal article give statistical data on heart disease and death in both women and men (2008). This article states “37 percent of men and 27 percent of women over the age 65 report having a heart condition” (Crimmins et al., 2008). Crimmins research addresses the many differences in men with coronary artery disease compared to women with coronary artery disease. The study noted that men have a higher mortality rate from heart disease than do women (Crimmins et al., 2008). This article also notes that “40-50 percent of postmenopausal women will develop heart disease” (Crimmins et al., 2008). Crimmins and colleges noted men develop heart disease 5 to 10 years earlier in life than do women ( 2008). Evidence suggests that women who are hospitalized for cardiovascular issues are less likely to “receive certain types of drugs and diagnostic and treatment procedures” (Crimmins et al., 2008). Low socio-economic status and poor educational levels also have a marked effect on men and women’s knowledge of cardiovascular disease and the timing of when they seek treatment (Hemingway, 2007).

James, W. P. (2008). The epidemiology of obesity: the size of the problem. Journal of Internal Medicine, 336-352. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9ede2d6d-4d02-42e9-aff7-dd9b2486a3c3%40sessionmgr4004&vid=8&h

Understanding social factors in health has become a central issue recently and a large number of studies has been dedicated in this regard. Social factors are phenomena seen in the interaction between individuals and social groups. In this essay, the importance of understanding such factors and their influence on health are addressed by studying socioeconomic status. Studies results are incorporated to explain health inequalities that arise from socioeconomic status and possible explanations including the material and structural, social selection, cultural and historical explanations cited in the literature are briefly discussed.

The main social problem is the higher prevalence of heart disease among the poor than the non-poor. This social problem has lead me to the following research question: in the United States, how is poverty associated with the prevalence of heart disease? To answer this question I will define heart disease, why it is an issue needing our attention, and whom it specifically affects. I will then delve into the many social mechanisms that facilitate this trend and show how they all work together to create an environment in which the poor are more likely to deal with heart disease than the non-poor. The mechanisms involved are individual and institutional, meaning that they operate and would have to be addressed at either the individual or institutional level. The individual focused mechanisms include smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, factors from early in life, and mental factors. The institution focused ones include quality of healthcare and lack of access to