Cardiovascular Disease Determinants

There are multiple factors that lead to the development cardiovascular disease. While some individuals are born with conditions that predispose them to strokes or heart disease, a majority of people participate in a combination of risk factors that lead to the development of cardiovascular disease. A few of those risk factors include a lack of physical activity, smoking, and poor diet. The more frequently individuals expose themselves to these risk factors the higher their chances of developing cardiovascular disease.

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.

The determinants of health are economic and social conditions that affect people’s health status. These influence the living and working conditions that impacts people’s everyday living condition. Factors such as the place and the environment we live in, genetics, educational level or work status and income, as well as friends and family are some of the aspects that affects our health condition. On the other hand, the people that have an access to good health care and have financial stability are less susceptible and are often less affected. (NANB, 2009)

On the physical side, some of the ways in which poverty contributes to poor health are very obvious. The principal reason how poverty affects individuals is that it prevents them from buying food, which in turn, leads to hunger that eventually turns into malnourishment. Malnutrition can be very dangerous for the human

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

Having a low income can lead to poor to health, because you won’t have access or opportunities for better health, such as safe homes, nutritious foods and good schools. “Income may not be the strongest risk factor for any particular disease or outcome, but it’s a risk factor for all of them.” (Krisberg, 2017)

This lack of prevention stems from poor education often received in those areas and the culture that often permeates within them (Williams/Torrens). Widely accepted is the concept that people with higher incomes generally enjoy better health and live longer than people with lower incomes.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in Australia, affects 22% of the Australian population. Targeting this health

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.

It is significant in underserved communities and it is most preventable. The risk factors to name a few are high blood pressure, poor diet & physical inactivity and obesity. It is pivotal to address these risks to prevent heart failure and strokes. The risk is controllable if certain life style changes are made. More than one in three adults which is 81.1 million lives with heart disease. In the Healthy people 2020 statistics the target for deaths caused by heart disease and stroke has declined from 1999 and 2011 from 194.6 to 109.2 deaths per 100,000 populations. This shows some progress. To maximize these results I would push for promotion of healthy eating habits and physical activities for people of all ages in underserved communities along with education specifically for unfortunate people.

Page 3 communities today. Specifically this disadvantage is evident in many areas of community life, with Indigenous people being generally exposed to more risk factors for poor health than other Australians (Thomson, MacRae, Burns, Catto, Debuyst, Krom, Midford, Potter, Ride, Stumpers and Urquhart, 2010, para. 49). Examples of risk factors include social factors such as dispossession, dislocation and discrimination, educational factors such as poor schooling, resulting in much lower literacy and numeracy skills, economic factors such as lower income and higher unemployment, access to good quality health care and GP's, and physical environmental factors such as poor and overcrowded housing. Together these disadvantages provide for a higher likelihood of poor lifestyle choices such as alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use, a poor and unbalanced diet, obesity and a lack of regular exercise (Thomson et. al. 2010, para. 49, Couzos et. al. 2008, p. 79).

Secondly, a Position Statement from the Australian Medical Association points out various social determinants of health [standards and influences] for all Australians. For example: A persons’ socio-economic status will invariably be a defining foundation for an individuals’ state of health and wellbeing; stress – this can invariably due to psychological and social factors, and this can be damaging to the over-all health and wellbeing of a person; early causes i.e., teratogens. The influence of environmental agents can disturb the [healthy] development of a fetus (e.g., if the zygote is exposed to a teratogen, these factors can have a long-lasting effect on the cognitive development of a child (social and emotional), their family, and the ongoing health and welfare of mother and/ or carer. Furthermore, social inclusion or exclusion; the impact from people experiencing poverty will further disadvantage them from: seeking health care and consequently individuals/ families or communities become [more] susceptible to various diseases e.g., diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease [CVD], alcohol/ drug abuse and [other] psychosocial [issues], psychopathological disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, substance abuse, dementia and antisocial personality disorder); education – it is noted that people with lower levels of education have lower literacy skills, and this in part will also mean that a person is less likely to gain satisfactory employment, again, the

Having a poor income causes great stress and anxiety and results in poor health choices being made such as drug and alcohol abuse and poor dietary choices. This can lead to chronic respiratory and heart problems and therefore causes ill-health amounts the poorer communities (National Rural Health Alliance LTD, 2017). Having no income also makes it harder for the minority and poorer groups to seek health advice or professional care as they can’t afford it and the health hey can afford isn’t always good standard. Because of these issues minority groups die younger, have higher risk factor behaviors and live in poorer condition (Australia Institution of Health and Welfare,

Information from the previous studies concerning this population, Muslim Americans is limited. The purpose of this research is to examine CVD risk factors among Muslim American adult men and their perceived risk in the Southeast Bronx. The Muslim world is classified by the WHO as low socioeconomic or underdeveloped or named as Low and Middle Income countries (LMIC). In terms of Muslim men

For example a person living in a deprived council estate, with a very low income has been proven to be more at risk of developing health issues compared to someone from a higher social class as there is a strong correlation between poverty and ill health. This has been backed up by (WHO, 1946) that state that ‘poverty creates ill-health because it forces people to live in environments that make them sick.’