How do psychosocial factors influence cardiac health?
Cardiac related health problems are one of the leading causes of death in industrialized areas throughout the Western world.1 Psychosocial factors such as stress and anxiety are often disregarded but have a major role to play in the development of cardiac disease. These factors are mostly manageable, allowing the risk of cardiac disease to decrease. This paper aims to discuss the influence of these psychosocial risk factors on cardiac health using the findings of epidemiological studies and the pathophysiology. The management of these risk factors will also be discussed. This will aid an understanding of the psychosocial factors that may have influenced Mr. Petersen’s health and his difficulty in making changes to his lifestyle.
Risk Factors
There are many risk factors for cardiac problems; these can be classified as modifiable and non-modifiable. Non-modifiable risk factors include family history, age, and sex while modifiable risk factors include smoking, unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, hypercholestereamia and hypertension. An aspect of modifiable risk factors that is often overlooked is psychosocial risk factors, these include: stress, anxiety and other negative emotional states such as anger, depression and social isolation.1 Anxiety and stress will be discussed in further detail.
Social and cultural factors influence cardiac disease as well. We live a westernized culture where fast foods and a sedentary lifestyle is prevalent, this increases certain risk factors. Socio-economic status and finance may increase stress or anxiety in a person and indirectly increase risk factors of cardiac disease as well.
Anxiety and Stress
Anxiety and stress are oft...
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As opposed to the 19th century where the prevalence of preventable infectious disease was the leading cause of mortality, we face a new challenge today: decreasing the occurrence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and strokes. Overwhelmingly so, cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer in the United States. This can be attributed to the state of poor psychological health and poor behavioral choices promoted by a variety of biological, psychological, and social influences. A healthier lifestyle is linked to a longer lifespan and better quality of life for an individual, so in order to promote a healthier lifestyle the dangers and risks of everyday life must be recognizable and approachable. Current questions I want to answer is; What is the most effective heart disease prevention, onset, and intervention methods? Looking through the biopsychosocial model scope is useful because it is a recent and practical framework to implement and operationalize.
It was to this respect that, the search could detect ‘’hypertension’’ as the leading risk factor for heart disease. And this preceded three quarters of heart failures cases as compared to coronary artery disease, which led to most heart failures in less than 40% of the cases. Also, an increase in left ventricular end-diastolic diameter became a mirror to the Framingham study as incident heart diseases in the individuals who are free from myocardial infarction. Although studies have shown that, the manifestation of heart failures can be present without the left ventricular systolic dysfunction, other risk factors could lead to that. Also, they (Framingham study) were able to detect ‘’too much of cholesterol’’ as a link to cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, research believed that has elevated among certain heart diseases such as coronary heart often leads to stroke, too high blood pressure among numerous patients. Having said that, the search discovered ‘’obesity’’ also as a concomitantly with hypertension which elevates lipids and diabetes versus questions on smoking behavior. Having said that, these risk factors are believed to have attributed to heart diseases. Therefore, it became a national concern to the general US population and that of the fourth director of Framingham heart study, William Castelli
“The health of individuals and populations is influenced and determined by many factors acting in various combinations. Healthiness, disease, disability and, ultimately, death are seen as the result of … human biology, lifestyle and environmental (e.g. social) factors…” (Mary Louise Fleming, 2009) There are many unchangeable contributing factors that play a role in a person’s health condition, this can be anything from the gender and location that they were born into, to genetic impairments and the lifestyle that their parents raised them in or even government policies; but for as many unchangeable factors, there are also changeable factors. In Mr. A’s case he was born from Pacific Islander descent, therefore it can be assumed that he was born into an obese family with little money, and was raised in poorer living conditions than the average Australian. Due to this, his health is expected to be worse that the average Australian because his social determinants make it so. He is now a full-grown man with a family, but still lives in problematic conditions due to his upbringing and culture along with the minimal to no levels of prevention shown. There are many risk factors that have affected Mr. A’s health due to the social determinants that he has been faced with such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, etc. There are also upstream and downstream factors affecting his health, “While upstream and midstream determinants influence the type, likelihood, number and severity of diseases that affect a person, downstream inequities come into play when a person becomes ill.” (AMA, 2007). These factors have had a major role in the result of his heart attack. Finally, his level of prevention exhibited is a key aspect on how much of an eff...
...ilure is highly among the older populations and in developing nations. As individuals age, they are more prone to hypertension, atrial fibrillation, CAD, DM, MI and obesity, etc., leading to heart failure. Abnormalities of heart function are higher with increasing decade of life, particularly from age 50 years. Besides, the comorbidities occurs more in developed countries due to the different lifestyles. More people in developing countries are obese, diabetic and living longer, etc. All these issue stress the heart and eventually lead to heart failure (Krum & Abraham, ).
Most individual would think that the cause of diabetes, heart disease, or other chronic disease is because of their own unhealthy lifestyle decisions. For instance, most people would think because of smoking, stress, and not enough exercise can have a higher chance of attending those disease. However, Barker have a different point of view. As D.J.P Barker state in his article titled, Fetal and Infant Origins of Adult Disease Hypothesis that adaptations that fetus make when is under-nourished rather than adaptations made in adult life and those made during early development tends to have permanent effect on body's structure and function (Barker, 2001). He hypothesize that low birth weight is a factor contributing to development of coronary heart disease in adulthood but he neglected there are sociological factors during adult life can also trigger the development of coronary heart disease as well. Even though the Fetal Origins Hypothesis used an biological explanation to the development of coronary heart disease but it fails to recognize the sociological factors to coronary heart disease. One's position on the socioeconomic gradient has a contribution to the risk of coronary heart disease.
Diabetes, smoking, High LDL cholesterol Low HDL cholesterol. Male gender. Not getting enough exercise. Obesity and older age.
...ssion, and anxiety can occur (Giarelli et al., 2010). Athletes who wish to play sports should have a clinical and cardiac evaluation before allowed to play. Women who are considering getting pregnant should be given have a cardiovascular risk assessment before conceiving and genetic counseling should be recommended to establish the patient’s risk of passing on the syndrome (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005).
There are several factors that cause heart disease such as: smoking, certain fats, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, hi...
Social determinants of cardiovascular diseases are found largely outside the healthcare systems, social factors of cause-and-effect work with traditional risk factors within the health care system to determine ones overall health.
Claar, R. L., & Blumenthal J. A. (2003). The value of stress-management interventions in life-
In the past thirty years there have been a significant number of studies done to establish a connection between psychological stress and the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD refers to the negative change towards the normal process of the heart and blood vessel system (What Is Cardiovascular Disease (Heart Disease)?, online). Psychological stress is defined, but not limited to being a demanding condition in which the normal behavioral conditions are exceeded thus overwhelming the behavioral resources of the organism (Kamarck, 2012). In the world today it has been shown that the impacts of psychological, social, and environmental stressors from daily lives are increasing the physical well being of individuals. Two different types of stressors can attain cardiovascular responses: "acute major life stressors and chronic exposure to continuing stressors" (Dimsdale, 2008). A stressor is any condition which causes stress on an individual. One may be exposed to acute stressors during periods of intense stress that are not regular to one’s lifestyle. Those who are exposed to constant chronic stressors are at an increased risk for hypertension, atherosclerosis, and stroke (Hojt, online). The increased levels of psychological stress present in individuals lives is providing for alarm due to the direct correlation it has with risk for cardiovascular disease.
Some of the key factors of heart disease are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking. Half of Americans have one of these three risk factors. Center for Disease Control states that several other medical conditions and lifestyle choices can also put people at a higher risk for heart disease, including; diabetes, overweight and obesity, poor diet, poor physical activity and, excessive alcohol abuse (Americas heart disease burden, 2013). Heart disease is a group of diseases of the heart and the blood vessel system in the heart. Coronary heart disease is the most common type; it affects the blood vessels of the heart. African American women are more likely to die from heart disease than any other race because some say African-American women don’t get the same treatment as the white race will get.
Risk of heart disease and risk factors for heart disease are strongly linked to family history. For example, if a Mother have a stroke, the child the family is more likely to have one. Family history provides a picture of the environment and genetics in place when these diseases occurs. Genetics cannot be changed, so if a patient have a family history with heart disease, they must change their environment. Meaning lowering risks by changing behaviors that can increase chance of getting heart disease or stroke. Ways of changing behaviors are better eating habits, physical activities, and eliminating smoking. Examples of heart disease in both men and women are coronary artery disease, angina, arrhythmia, congenital heart disease, dilated cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and...
One of the leading causes of death in the United States is heart disease. “Approximately every 29 seconds one American will have a heart attack, and once a minute one American will die from a heart attack” (Ford-Martin and Odle, 915). According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine men over the age of 45 and women over the age of 55 are considered at risk for heart disease. Heart disease is a major cause of death. It is beneficial to individuals who seek to prevent heart disease to recognize the risks leading to heart attacks as they are one of the primary indications of developing heart disease; especially those that fall into the at risk age groups. These risks consist of some that cannot be changed such as heredity risks, or those that can change such as smoking habits. It is very important to know these specific risks for prevention and to understand the symptoms of heart attacks, such as sweating or the feeling of weakness so if these or other symptoms occur people are aware. Finally heart disease treatment is of vital importance if you experience a heart attack so you can learn how to prevent another one from occurring.
Carver, C.S. & Glass, D.C. (1978). Coronary-prone behavior pattern and interpersonal aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 361-366.