preview

Disease Trends and the Delivery of Health Care

Better Essays

Stephanie Chism HCA240 September 22, 2013

The impacts of healthcare delivery systems biggest issues are the aging and obesity. We need to understand how these can impact our lives and what we can do to address them now before they become a bigger issue in the future. Many of the Americans from the baby boomer era are becoming retired and will add to the future endeavors of the working class with many of our government programs being affected. The second contributor is obesity. Since this can go in hand with the aging these are the main reasons we need to look at our delivery systems.
Aging
The median age of the world's population is increasing because of a decline in …show more content…

Disability among older U.S. adults, as measured by limitations in instrumental activities of daily living, has declined since the early 1980s. Disability also is measured by limitations in activities of daily living (ADL), a common factor leading to the need for long-term care. Recent studies using ADL measures have shown varied trends in disability. The world has experienced a gradual demographic transition from patterns of high fertility and high mortality rates to low fertility and delayed mortality. The transition begins with declining infant and childhood mortality, in part because of effective public health measures. Lower childhood mortality contributes initially to a longer life expectancy and a younger population. Declines in fertility rates generally follow, and improvements in adult health lead to an older population. As a result of demographic transitions, the shape of the global age distribution is changing. By 1990, the age distribution in developed countries represented similar proportions of younger and older persons. For developing countries, age distribution is projected to have similar proportions by 2030. By 2030, the number of U.S. adults aged 65 or older will more than double to about 71 million. The rapidly increasing number of older Americans has far-reaching implications for our nation's public health system and will place unprecedented demands on the

Get Access