Free Paper on Cardiovascular Diseases: Types, Causes & Effects

Introduction

Ambrose & Singh (2015), argue that cardiovascular health problems are a result of diseases that affect blood vessels and the heart. Examples of cardiovascular diseases include heart diseases, abnormal heart rhythms, carditis, cardiomyopathy, and valvular heart diseases. Others consist of coronary artery diseases that include myocardial infarction, a condition that is commonly known as a heart attack, as well as angina. Further, cardiovascular diseases consist of congenital and hypersensitive heart diseases as well as heart failure, among others (Kelly & Fuster, 2015).

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Ambrose & Singh (2015), cardiovascular diseases are the leading source of death for adult men in the United States of America. The records indicate that in 2017 347,879 men died due to cardiovascular diseases. This can be interpreted to mean that 1 in every 4 male deaths is due to cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases are very common; however, it is heart disease is the leading reason of death for men from all racial and ethnic groups that are found in the United States. From the medical records, it is estimated that about 1 in 13 white men, about 7.7% and 1 in 14 black men, about 7.1% have been found to be affected by coronary heart disease. Hispanic men have the lowest rates considering that only 1 in 17, about 5.9%) have coronary heart disease ((Ambrose & Singh, 2015).

Using modern technology, cardiovascular health problems can be diagnosed early and treatment applied to patients unlike in the past when patients, especially men who were asymptomatic, would lose their lives due to late diagnosis of Cardiovascular health problems (Chou, 2015).

The impact of cardiovascular health problems

According to Tettegah & Garcia (2016), cardiovascular health problem affects mostly men, with high blood pressure, with diabetes. Worldwide cardiovascular diseases are the major causes of disability and deaths for men. In the United States of America, about 34 % of deaths in 2018 were directly due to cardiovascular diseases (Ambrose & Singh, 2015).

Cardiovascular diseases are major health disparities between men and women and have resulted in high healthcare costs. The specified populations include the aging men population and obese men who are at a higher risk of getting cardiovascular diseases (Sacks, Lichtenstein, Wu, Appel, Creager, Kris-Etherton, et al. (2017).

Hawks, Woolhandler, & McCormick (2020), it is important to note that for men with Cardiovascular health problems when infected with other diseases such as COVID-19 their recovery is severed and the impact on their respiratory organs is much higher than for men without any Cardiovascular health problems.

Prevention Strategies for Cardiovascular Health Problems

Tettegah & Garcia (2016) argue that cardiovascular health problems can be prevented using various strategies for every stage of cardiovascular disease starting from primary to secondary and tertiary levels. Primary prevention is a strategy that can be used to identify men who are at high-risk factors of contracting cardiovascular disease and adjust their lifestyle from this risk factor. The risk factors identified are lifestyle behaviors like smoking, poor diet, obesity, and physical inactivity (Sacks, Lichtenstein, Wu, Appel, Creager, Kris-Etherton, et al. (2017).

World Health Organization (2013), has recommended that society should strictly adhere to healthy lifestyles that entail regular physical exercise, consumption of proper dietary, and avoiding drug abuse such as cigarette smoking as among the effective strategies for primary prevention measures for cardiovascular diseases.

Secondary prevention for cardiovascular health problems is meant to prevent cardiovascular diseases by the use of drugs as well as counseling men who are at high risk (Kelly &, Fuster, 2015). This also includes prevention and diagnosis, which is a critical stage as it helps in early diagnosis and allows doctors to attend to individuals by treatment and counseling and improve their lives.

Tertiary prevention is the last prevention method, and it includes major procedures of which some are uncomfortable to patients. This includes surgery and grafting, which are expensive. Focusing on the primary preventive method is better and cost-effective (Ambrose & Singh, 2015).

Summary

The number of prevailing cardiovascular health problem cases has been recorded to be high among obese men and low among young men out of all the populations of the United States of America (Hawks, Woolhandler, & McCormic, 2020).

Statistics indicate that about 90% of cardiovascular diseases are preventable. At the primary level, there is a need to improve risk factors by practicing healthy eating, undertaking regular exercises, and reducing the use of drugs such as alcohol and tobacco (Chou, 2015). Treatment for other medical conditions, including blood lipids, high blood pressure, and diabetes, is very effective (Hawks, Woolhandler, & McCormic, 2020). The most effective way of preventing cardiovascular health problems is primary prevention. Evidence shows that once a man is affected by cardiovascular disease, treatment is costly and less effective at the tertiary level.

References

Ambrose J. A. & Singh M. (2015). "Pathophysiology of coronary artery disease leading to acute coronary syndromes". F1000prime Reports. 7: 08. doi:10.12703/P7-08. PMC 4311268. PMID 25705391.

Chou R. (2015). "Cardiac screening with electrocardiography, stress echocardiography, or myocardial perfusion imaging: advice for high-value care from the American College of Physicians". Annals of Internal Medicine. 162 (6): 438–47. doi:10.7326/M14-1225. PMID 25775317.

Hawks L, Woolhandler S, & McCormick D (2020). "COVID-19 in Prisons and Jails in the United States". JAMA Internal Medicine. 180(8): 1041. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.1856. PMID 32343355.

Kelly B.B. & Fuster V. (2015). Promoting Cardiovascular Health in the Developing World: A Critical Challenge to Achieve Global Health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-14774-3.

Sacks FM, Lichtenstein AH, Wu JH, Appel LJ, Creager MA, Kris-Etherton PM, et al. (J2017). "Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association". Circulation. 136 (3): e1–23. doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000000510. PMID 28620111. S2CID 367602.

Tettegah, Sharon & Garcia, Yolanda Evie (2016). Emotions, Technology, and Health. London: Academic Press. p. 48. ISBN 9780128017371.

World Health Organization. (2013) Global Action Plan For The Prevention And Control Of Non-Communicable Diseases 2013–2020. Geneva: WHO, 2013. http://wwwwhoint/nmh/events/ncd_action_plan/en/ Retrieved August 2020