Cardiovascular Disease Analysis

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general identification of diseases of the heart and the blood vessels. It is the leading cause of death in Australia and the amount of people living with it increases and is increasing due to environmental, socioeconomic and sociocultural determinants. One in 5 Australian’s were diagnosed with CVD between 2011 and 2012. In 2012 alone, 43,946 Australians died because of CVD and in 2013 to 2014, 11% of all hospitalisations were due to CVD. These three factors differentiate between groups who are more prone to receiving a CVD, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI), and those who are at less of a risk of getting one, non-indigenous Australians.
Socioeconomic status (SES) is the measure of how much an individual
Due to their low income, low SES tend to have less than or average health care and have very limited choices when it comes to factors that may affect their health, for example, fresh fruit and vegetables tend to be more expensive and therefore making it difficult for them (the low SES) to buy healthy food- in result, this causes them to go for the cheaper option, which is often junk food, for example, fast food. People with low SES have fewer opportunities to health education, due to the fact that they don’t have enough funds to pay for schools and universities and therefore this results in them being less health literate than people with a higher SES. As a result, low SES tend to lack the amount of nutrition that their bodies need, they become more susceptible to CVD
Individuals with a history of cardiovascular diseases in their family lines may be vulnerable to a CVD themselves as a result of the genetic likelihood. The Asian populace have lower chances of acquiring CVD due to their fat-free, healthier diets whereas ATSI’s have a higher chance of getting a CVD because of their unhealthy eating habits which is due to their low SES. This resulted in higher rates of obesity in the ATSI groups, 66% of the population were either overweight or obese. The obesity rates were higher than those of non-indigenous background for both males and females. Smoking rates have lowered due to preventative advertisements on media, but there is still a pressure on individuals, to smoke, by their peers or social viewpoints and stereotypes. For example, in 2012-13, ATSI’s smoked more on a daily basis than non-indigenous peoples with 41.6% of the populace (aged 15 and over) doing so. However, due to the media and its advertisements against smoking, the attitudes towards smoking have begun to change and be seen as negative, and because of such coverage, the number of smokers came down from 44.6% in