An Analysis of the Main Causes of Cardiovascular Diseases

An Analysis of the Main Causes of Cardiovascular Diseases
There are a great number of diseases such as cancer and HIV around the world. However, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is now arousing public attention due to its increasing effect on populations. ‘Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the name for the group of disorders of heart and blood vessels such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular diseases’ (WHO, 2012). CVD has enormous impacts on health and kills an estimated 17 million individuals worldwide annually (Mandal, 2012). A great amount of research explicitly indicates some causes. The most important factors of CVD are unhealthy lifestyle, tobacco use and alcohol abuse. To avoid suffering from CVD, individuals should engage in regular physical activities, choose a balanced diet, and reduce consumption of tobacco and alcohol. The following assignment will analyze the causes of cardiovascular disease.
Unhealthy lifestyle such as dietary pattern, physical activity, unusual sleep and abnormal body mass index (BMI is a measure that most individuals can use to check if their weight is healthy for their height) is a key risk factor for CVD. Firstly, a great many countries are confronted with a nutrition transition that consists of cheap calories, animal foods, refined grains, sugary drinks and fast food (Harvard School of Public Health, 2012). For example, McDonald aims to open 2000 outlets in China by 2013 (ibid). Therefore, the consumption of junk food which contains excessive salt, saturated fats and sugar is increasing significantly, especially in developing countries such as China. In addition, it is claimed that vegetable and fruit can reduce the risk of CVD mortality (Hung, et al, 2004). Nevertheless, the consumption of this food is considerably lower than the average level. For example, the bulk of Europeans do not reach WHO recommendations on vegetables and fruit consumption (≥ 400 g per day) ( European Food Information Council, 2012) and ‘A diet high in calories and low in nutrients is common in the United States’(Hughes,2010). Hence, individuals are living a life with an unreasonable dietary pattern, which might raise the proportion of individuals suffering from cardiovascular disease. Secondly, physical activities are another essential element. Individuals prefer to participate in indoor activities such as watching TV and playing on computers rather than doing physical activities which can decline blood pressure, improve blood cholesterol levels and keep the body mass index in a rational level (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2011). Thus, living a sedentary life lacking physical activities will bring about obesity, which will cause cardiovascular disease. Thirdly, it is alleged that sleeping more than 9 hours or less than 6 hours and body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5 kg/m2 or more than 21.5kg/m2 pose a potential threat to CVD mortality (Odegaard, et al,2011).
The problem of unhealthy lifestyle has aroused increasing research. It has been interpreted that there are three reasons to explain why a great number of individuals choose an unhealthy lifestyle. Firstly, socioeconomic status has a significant influence on the choice of routine. As socioeconomic status improves, individuals shift into an unhealthy way of life. For instance, in China, as the income level increases, the possibility of having a healthier lifestyle decreases significantly in a linear trend (Kim, et al, 2004). One reason is that individuals, as stated above, are faced with a “nutrition transmission” contributing to eating more junk food which is adapted to rapid life speed. Although it is alleged that the price of junk food is often higher than traditional food, especially in developing countries, individuals have enough money to purchase it (ibid). In addition, individuals can afford a considerable amount of advanced electrical equipment such as televisions and computers. Being addicted to television and computer games is also a cause for leading to a sedentary life which will increase the rate of CVD. Secondly, a vast majority of individuals do not have enough knowledge about life habits as a result of undeveloped education or overlooking of health information. Education can enable citizens to bond health-producing behavior into a coherent lifestyle and educated parents can guide their children to live a healthy lifestyle (Mirowsky and Ross, 1998). However, it is stated that few individuals take advantage of the health information in high-income countries and a fair number of individuals in other countries lack access to gain resources (Forrest, 2012). Thirdly, government policy has a remarkable impact on choice of routine. It is alleged that unhealthy lifestyle behavior has become more apparent in China since the market system was introduced (Kim, et al, 2004). Citizens are enormously influenced by a few negative parts of unhealthy habits such as high calories food due to an open market and a lack of discernibility.
Tobacco, which contains various toxic substances such as nicotine, tobacco tar and carbon monoxide, is another reason for the causes of CVD. According to the International Business of Heart Disease (2012), smoking is a prime factor for heart attacks, contributing to more than one-third of deaths from heart illnesses in the world annually. For instance, in China, the risk of smokers suffering from these diseases is three times higher than the risk in non-smokers (Liu, 2007). Therefore, it indicates that individuals can prevent and control heart illness by means of avoiding tobacco use. Furthermore, this adverse consumer behavior poses a threat to non-smokers’ cardiovascular systems. Thus, attention now focuses on the relationship with secondhand smoke and cardiovascular disease. A causal relationship has emerged after a substantial number of experimental studies. Research demonstrates that passive smoke has a clinically important impact on susceptibility to CVD and declining the exposure to such environment is likely to be a significantly preventable cause of CVD (Venn and Britton, 2007). According to Satcher (2000), second-hand smoke accelerates the risk of heart disease by over 30%, accounting for at least 35000 deaths a year in the U. S. Hence, it can be concluded that avoiding second-hand smoke can prevent individuals from being attacked by CVD. In sum, tobacco consumption gives rise to the high incidence of cardiovascular disease.
Globally, an estimated 1.62 million cardiovascular deaths were attributable to smoking in 2000 accounting for 11% of total global cardiovascular deaths (Ezzat, et al, 2005). According to statistics, the circumstance of CVD in the world is becoming increasingly serious. Nevertheless, a fair number of individuals around the world are still addicted to this unhealthy habit, which causes the disease to become considerably severe. There are three generally accepted reasons to account for the choice of tobacco. The first is the expenditure of cigarette smoking. Cigarettes were smoked by the minority of the rich before the First World War, because they were leftovers of the cigar making process (Waxler, 2012). However, the number of individuals who started this unfavorable habit boomed when the tobacco companies started to mass-produce cigarettes (ibid.). This accounts for the fact that the general public became more likely to suffer from smoking-related sicknesses such as CVD with the development of production technology. The second factor of smoking cigarettes is that a smoker can gain the psychological pleasure or satisfaction when smoking. As McRobbie (2009) suggests, individuals need cigarettes to relax and cope with stressful situations. Actually, if governments provide perfect life safeguard measures and enact comprehensive tobacco control legislation on the tobacco industry, the number of citizens contracting the CVD will probably drop. The third motivation for smoking is that quite a surprising number of individuals are not aware of the harm of tobacco because of the limitation in medical research. It took about 20 to 30 years before the exact effects of smoking became universal acknowledged (Waxler, 2012). These studies demonstrate that it still needs time for general public to acquire knowledge about the interaction between tobacco and cardiovascular disease.
Apart from unhealthy lifestyle and tobacco, alcohol is one of the crucial causes of CVD due to the following aspects. Firstly, intake of alcohol raises blood pressure that increases the ratio of CVD (Marmot and Brunner, 1991).Research illustrates that blood pressure is about to increase owing to excessive intake of alcohol(Marmot, et al,1994). Secondly, high density lipoprotein (a coupled protein that is a complex of protein and lipid) results from large amount of liquor is considerable. For instance, high density lipoprotein is a root element that leads to cardiovascular disease (Gordon, et al, 1989). Ultimately, lower plasma fibrinogenis (a plasma protein that is manufactured in the liver and is transformed into fibrin during blood clot formation) caused by alcoholism is a supplementary reason for contracting cardiovascular diseases. For instance, exceeding the amount of 2 to 3 drinks each day, the threat of myocarditis will have an augment (Marmot and Brunner, 1991). In conclusion, rising blood pressure, high density lipoprotein and lower plasma fibrinogenis are three ways that alcohol affects cardiovascular disease.
The risky ingestion of alcohol increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, however, individuals insist on risking drinking. There are approximately three factors of alcoholism which can be classified as cultural, political and economic elements. Firstly, traditions of culture and religion are crucial. According to Perkins (1987), there are a great quantity of diverse circumstances in different civilizations and religions. Specific religion with certain religions will consume more liquor as a result of diverse norms of religion. In addition, it is noticeable that a steadily increasing amount of purchasing liquor is emerging while the restrictions of culture and religion lessen. An illustration is that the sale of alcoholic drinks in Britain has increased gradually since the 1950’s because of the lessening of restrictions from culture and religion and the creation of the new drinking culture (Institute of Alcohol Study, 2010). The second factor is the legality of consuming alcohol and a lack of limiting laws. According to Stanley and Dominique (1985), effective laws to dominate the issue made by governments are insufficient, which can be attributable to the fact that drinking is a freedom of citizens. Thirdly, another vital element of alcoholism is the price of alcoholic drinks and the standard of citizens' purchasing ability. It is claimed by Gylfason (2001) that purchasing power of citizens’ is promoting along with the development of global economy and the improvement of living conditions. Thus, rising demand of alcoholic drinks exacerbates the problem of drinking. In conclusion, traditions of culture and religion, a short of limiting laws about alcohol, and improvement of purchasing power cause alcoholism.
The causes of CVD in the world are complex and world ranging. In particular, unhealthy lifestyle, tobacco use and over-drinking are three reasons that commonly acknowledged. Firstly, unhealthy lifestyle, which consists of dietary pattern, physical inactivity, unusual sleep and abnormal body mass index (BMI), is a result of socioeconomic status variation, undeveloped education and government policy. Secondly, tobacco use which is caused by history, social economic development effects and science, has a strong impact on CVD. Thirdly, alcohol abuse caused by cultural, political and economic elements leads to a rise in blood pressure, high density lipoprotein and lower platelet activity. To sum up, some parts factors of politics, economies and culture can have a massive influence on individuals’ choice of lifestyle, tobacco and alcohol. Firstly, governments should improve the education system and individuals should take healthy information seriously. Secondly, easing individuals’ pressure which is due to rapid developmental economics is crucial. Likewise, governments could publish a group of policies to relieve citizens’ pressure of life such as provide financial support. If the recommendations are implemented, the morality of CVD will decline.
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