Disease Trends Research Paper

Disease Trends and the Delivery of Healthcare Services
Kathryn Tolliver-Jackson
HCA/240
August 9, 2013
Jerrica Ampadu

Demographics and disease trends are likely to influence health care delivery services in the future for many reasons. For example, it could be because of age, obesity, or the future. During this essay I will be discussing how age composition of the U.S population and how it will change within the next twenty years, I will identify factors that support this trend, how obesity is expected to change over the next twenty years, the factors that support this obesity trend, and how health care delivery will adapt in the future.
According to “Demographics of the United States” (n.d), “As of July 1, 2013 the United States
According to “Heart Disease” (1998-2013), “simply getting older increases your risk of damaged and narrowed arteries and weakened or thickened heart muscle, which contribute to heart disease”. There are controllable risk factors for heart disease, and according to “Heart Disease” (1998-2013), smoking constricts your blood vessels, and carbon monoxide can damage their inner lining, making them more susceptible to atherosclerosis. Heart attacks are more common in smokers than in non-smokers”. Smoking is a choice and people have to choose to want to smoke or not to smoke. Smoking is controllable by just not doing it. A poor diet is also a controllable risk factor because eating foods that are not good for you is a choice and not an obligation or necessity. High blood pressure is controllable, and high blood cholesterol levels are controllable. Another disease that can be decreased by the aging trend is a stroke. According to “Stroke” (1998-2013), “a stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of your brain is interrupted or severely reduced, depriving brain tissue of oxygen and food. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die”. Strokes also have controllable risk factors such as smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. According to “Stroke” (1998-2013), “risk of stroke begins to increase at blood pressure readings higher than 120/80 millimeters of mercury (mm
From 13% obesity in 1962, estimates have steadily increased, reaching 19.4% in 1997, 24.5% in 2007, and 33.8% (adults) and 17% (children) in 2008. In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported higher numbers once more, counting 35.7% of American adults as obese, and 17% of American children”. There are environmental factors that can change the obesity rate over the next twenty years. According to “Obesity, What Can Be Done?” (n.d), “overweight and obesity, as well as their related chronic diseases, are largely preventable and at an individual level, people can achieve energy balance and a healthy weight by limiting energy intake from total fats and shifting fat consumption away from saturated fats to unsaturated fats-increasing their consumption of fruit and vegetables, as well as legumes, whole grains and nuts-limiting their intake of sugars and increasing physical activity”. Another thing that can be done to reduce obesity is to stop being lazy. Some people just sit on the couch watching television instead of getting up and being socially active. Obesity can increase diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. According to “How Does Obesity Cause Heart Disease?” (1999-2013), “obesity can and often does cause heart failure because the obese person’s heart is overworked. An obese person