Carlos,
Describe the epidemiologic principles and measures used to address heart disease.
United States National Institutes of Health (2016) Epidemiology is the field of medicine that studies the causes that contribute to the prevalence or lack of diseases and illnesses. To fully address the issue of heart disease, the principles of distribution and determinants were used. The principle of distribution entails identifying the geographical area that are highly affected by heart disease as well as what ages are highly affected. This gives a glimpse of the health distribution and also a link to other causations of heart disease. The principle of determinants was utilized to determine any other factors that were associated with heart disease (CDC, 2020). This was applied because the study was conducted on different population. Additionally, the use of this principle indicates that different populations have different factors that affect their cardiovascular health including eating habits, lifestyle and genetics.
Discuss the use of descriptive and/or analytic epidemiology to address heart disease
Descriptive and analytic epidemiology was used to analyze the research findings concerning heart disease. In situations where both qualitative and quantitative studies have been conducted, a detailed analysis conducted, to ensure that the results are satisfactory. In the analysis of heart disease, this descriptive and analytic epidemiology was used to analyze the distribution of the disease as well as its determinant. The resulting responses would be helpful in designing the appropriate measures to reduce its prevalence. Also, it was used to analyze which age group was highly affected, which may be used to warn individuals at that age of such a disease. From the analysis, it was observed that heart disease was common in some races than others and in certain areas than others.
Recommend additional measures required to integrate proposed changes into practice.
I would recommend for the identification of the patients who are at risk of developing heart disease, depending on the epidemiologic report. This would be appropriate especially in efforts to fight heart disease. Early identification of the people or population at risk would necessitate the development of the necessary approaches or strategies to minimize the development or the disease. The early identification could be based on genetic factors or family history of the individual or the current health status of the individual. Frequent health screening will need to be integrate to health care system for this early identification of patients at risk Secondly, after identification of these populations, relevant and adequate teaching should be conducted to create awareness of the harmful behaviors and lifestyles that the populations need to stop. Also, educating them concerning the appropriate measure like proper and healthy diet would be necessary to integrate in health care.
Share your professional experience related to the topic.
Throughout my clinical practice, I have realized that mean are more affected by heart disease that women. This could be attributed to several factors like lifestyle (alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking). Also it has been evident that people of color are at a high risk of developing heart disease, and that some of the people with heart disease do not know their condition until it gets worse, which will necessitate health screening for such populations. Additionally, populations in area with poor health care services are also at high risk of developing heart disease since there are no adequate education program for such populations. I feel that the health care system should devise ways to identify the populations at high risk of heart disease and device appropriate strategies to handle the situation.
References
CDC. (2020, May 11). Principles of epidemiology | Lesson 1 – Section 1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders; (2016. Nov 30) definition of epidemiology. https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/ health/statistics/Pages/epidemiology.aspx
