Abstract
A cardiovascular disease (CVD) is defined as any illness that attacks the heart, brain, kidney or peripheral arteries of the cardiovascular system (Cooper et al, 2000). In all types of cardiovascular diseases, there is the involvement of the blood vessels. The blood vessels in the circulatory system include the arteries, capillaries and veins. The arteries take clean and oxygenated blood to other organs and tissues away from the heart (Cooper et al, 2000). Capillaries form a link between arteries and veins. Veins carry impure blood from other body organs and tissues to the heart for oxygenation (in the lungs). Cohort follow-up studies involve observing a group of persons for some period. The group of persons selected for the follow-up (a cohort) are free from the disease, but there are chances that they are exposed to the disease risk factors. For the case of CVD, the risk factors are identified at the baseline of the study. At the end of the observation period, a correlation is done between exposure to the risks and disease manifestation. Therefore, cohort follow-up studies help to determine the risks responsible for certain diseases in the population.
Causes of CVD and key steps (current medications)
Research has established that CVD is caused by interference of blood flow in the blood vessels caused by atherosclerosis (Cooper et al, 2000). Atherosclerosis refers to accumulation of fatty plaques on the walls of the arteries. The accumulation of the macromolecules leads to pathophysiology of the arteries that carry clean and oxygenated blood away from the heart. The affected arteries have reduced lumen through which blood flows and they are inflexible and weak. In most cases, there is a build up of pressure in the affected arteries, and this restricts the amount of blood reaching body organs and tissues. The damaged arteries do not carry oxygenated blood as required by body organs and tissues. If the affected arteries are those responsible for supplying the brain, the disease is termed the vascular disease of the brain. If the arteries affected are those responsible for supplying the kidney, then the disease is termed as the vascular disease of the kidney. Vascular disease of the peripheral arteries results when the arteries supplying the peripheral organs and tissues are affected. The implication for interfering with the normal blood flow in the arteries is that less blood and nutrients would be supplied to body organs. For instance, reducing the amount of oxygen supplied to the brain could lead to brain hypoxia. Brain hypoxia could result in the stroke of the brain and death.
Cohort follow-up studies demonstrate that CVD is caused by atherosclerosis which is precipitated by some risk factors. Therefore, it would be prudent to address the risk factors involved in the onset of CVD. Increase in age has been found to positively correlate with chances of developing CVD. Build-up of fatty plaques on the walls of arteries takes many years to have significant effects on the blood flow to body organs and tissues. Aging also leads to weakening of the walls of the arteries. Therefore, atherosclerosis and CVD manifest at advanced ages. Sex of individuals also been cited as a risk factor for CVD (Howard & Kritchevsky, 1997). Studies have established that men have more chances of developing CVD than women. Studies have attempted to associate the gender differences in the development of CVD to hormonal differences. Air pollution has also been suggested to be a major risk for CVD. In particular, chronic exposure to PM2 has been shown to cause CVD in women than in men. Other diseases have also been shown to cause atherosclerosis which results in CVD. Some of the diseases that have been associated with CVD are diabetes mellitus, renal disease and hypercholesterolemia (Sarnak et al., 2003). Research demonstrates that lack of physical exercise, increased intake of fatty food and weight gain could lead to increased chances of developing CVD (Bijlani et al., 2005; Knoops et al., 2004). Infectious agents like bacteria and viruses cause also lead to CVD by causing inflammation of blood vessels.
CVD treatment approaches are geared towards opening up the narrowed blood vessels. There are three major approaches adopted for treating CVD, and an approach is chosen depending on the severity of the disease. Lifestyle changes are used to manage mild forms of CVD. Lifestyle changes may involve low sodium dietary intake, intake of low amount fats in food and some mild forms of body physical exercises (Bijlani et al., 2005). If a doctor finds out that lifestyle are not managing CVD efficiently, then drugs could be used to treat the disease. CVD medications are designed to lower blood pressure, make blood thin or lower cholesterol in the body. Common medications used for treating CVD are statins, aspirin, diuretics and beta-blockers. Medical surgery could still be used for very severe cases of CVD. Medical procedures are aimed at clearing the blockages in the arteries. More complicated procedures could be used if the normal surgery is found to be ineffective. For example, artery bypass surgery is used when other forms of normal non-invasive surgery have proved to be ineffective (Sjöström et al., 2004).
The above five questions could be posed to the local health department with the aim of reducing the number of CVD cases and impact of the disease to the population (Yusuf, Reddy, Ôunpuu & Anand, 2001). It could be prudent to understand the lifestyle factors associated with CVD onset in the local population because the knowledge could enable public health personnel to launch programs that lead to adoption of health lifestyle among members of the population. Knowing the disease patterns based on the age of the patients could be helpful in designing preventive measures that could result in lower cases of the disease in the future. Understanding which gender has more chances of developing CVD could help in designing preventive measures addressing the gender that is more affected in the population (Yusuf et al., 2001). Identifying the commonest form of CVD in the population could go a long in ensuring developing preventive approaches addressing proliferation of the disease. It could be important for public health personnel and other healthcare professionals to know whether patients presenting with CVD are aware of ways of preventing the disease. The knowledge could be instrumental in designing population-wide mitigation approaches based on informing the population ways of preventing CVD (Pearson et al., 2003).
Rudimentary protocol to disseminate the information to the local community leaders
The protocol that could be used to convey the information based on the aforementioned questions could be based on the following parts:
- Introduction: This part of the protocol could provide background information on CVD. It could introduce the disease and its impact to the population. This section could also discuss the various forms of CVD.
- Risks and causes of CVD: This section could discuss the major risks associated with CVD. The factors could include the following: age, pathophysiology caused by other diseases, weight gain, lack of physical exercises, and high intake of fats. This section of the protocol could explain all the risk factors in detail. For example, differences in CVD preference between men and women.
- Prevention: This section of the protocol could discuss the tested approaches that could be adopted to prevent and reduce cases of CVD in the population. The following measures could be proposed: reduction in the amount of dietary sodium and fats intake, and participation in routine physical exercise.
Six (6) steps in preventing proliferation of CVD
The following 6 steps could be adopted to reduce the number of CVD cases in the population:
- Identifying the number of CVD cases in the population.
- Identifying the causes of the disease in the population.
- Determining the major cause of the disease in the population.
- Designing treatment measures to deal with the cases.
- Designing and implementing preventive measures.
- Evaluating the effectiveness of treatment and preventive measures in the population.
Research demonstrates that measures to reduce the proliferation of a disease in the population should start with the identification of the number of cases in the population and end with evaluation of treatment and preventive measures adopted (Pearson et al., 2003). The other steps could involve determining the causes of the disease and launching treatment and preventive measures.
References
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