A chronic disease may be defined as a sickness that is continual in nature and the path of the disease runs into a few months. The chronic diseases include diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, cancer, asthma, stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, etc. These diseases are distinctive of very slow development and patient suffering goes on for a longer duration (NCBI MeSH, 2012).These are generally non-communicable in nature, but in some cases viruses have been implicated like cancer and HIV/AIDS. It is reported that around 63% of the deaths result due to chronic conditions (World Health Organization, 2012). In the United States too, chronic diseases account for nearly 70% of the deaths, which is around 1.7 million per year (Statistics and Tracking, 2012). The common causes of chronic diseases identified are physical inactivity, poor diet, alcohol abuse and excessive tobacco use. The emphasis of research has shifted from communicable to chronic diseases due to high mortality and long standing patient suffering. The chronic conditions demand a high level of consistent patient and health care. This paper aims to analyze a preventing chronic disease research article. The article has been selected from CDC website and the title of the paper is “Preventing Chronic Illness in Young Veterans by Promoting Healthful Behaviors” (Preventing Chronic Illness in Young Veterans by Promoting Healthful Behaviors, 2012).
Analysis of the selected research article
The article “Preventing Chronic Illness in Young Veterans by Promoting Healthful Behaviors” is a recent article, last updated on 15 December 2011. The paper deals with the discussion of the chronic illness suffering and increased risk among war veterans who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, and opportunities to develop strategies to promote healthful behaviors among them. The causes being tobacco use, weight linked behaviors, physical apathy and deprived nutrition. Though continuous smokers, these war veterans were 50% more prone to tobacco use, attributed to their socio-cultural conditions and military vocation course. The entry to adulthood leads to weight gain leading to chronic conditions. These war veterans are more prone to hypertension too. They also have more access to physical training against their other peers, and are also entitled to VA healthcare system, focusing more on chronic illness prevention. The age related analysis has found that the best time for change in behavior is after initial deployment, when young soldiers can be encouraged to quit smoking. The strategies to be adopted are to define and establish a well defined data collection system (Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2012), and for this participants need to be recruited through organizations (National Institutes of Health, 2012; National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, 2012). The data could be collected through the social websites, online surveys, and also the data need to fully self-explanatory in nature. Another approach is to develop and design innovative policies to encourage young veterans quit smoking, alcohol, etc. More efficient partners are required apart from VA health care (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2012). There should be an integration of Military health care with VA healthcare system, with the participating research centers and universities. This would increase the interaction of war veterans with these institutions on their return, and hence would be helpful in controlling chronic illness.
Economic justification of Preventing Chronic Disease
Chronic diseases cannot just be measured as the disease of the rich and the elderly in the light of the fresh research evidences. The cost of chronic illness, micro- and macro-economic data imply upsetting economic cost for the family and the nation having a deep impact on the saving and spending patterns, labor-market output, and human-capital buildup. Governments need to intrude in the private globe of the individual as markets fail to attain publicly best outcomes. There are evidences that interventions such as tobacco termination programmes, tobacco taxes, educational, and pharmacological programmes are cost-effective. Research investments by public sector assume magnitude with the detection that chronic diseases are on the rise with aging populations across the globe. The cost of illness studies have suggested that it ranges between 0.02% and 6.77% of a country’s GDP. According to one research by Sturm in 2002, to review the additional per-person annual healthcare costs associated with obesity, overweight, smoking and heavy alcohol drinking among the age group 18-65 years in USA; it was found that increased costs due to obesity, smoking and heavy drinking were $395, $230, and $150 respectively. When the advanced research by Finkelstein in 2003 were extrapolated, it was established that the expenditures for overweight and obesity collectively amounted to 9.1% of total annual US medical expenditures in 1998. Given existing health finance patterns in many developing and under-developed nations, the costs associated with treating chronic disease are more likely to be felt by those who are affordably poor, mounting the risk of economic loss and ‘impoverishing medical expenditures’ of the families concerned (The Oxford Health Alliance, 2012; OECD, 2012).
To conclude, the increased risk factors for chronic illness among war veterans could be controlled through more engagement between the patients, healthcare systems, and the research and academic organizations, leading to formulation of effective health policies keeping in view of the future economic burden of the rising chronic disease cases.
Explanation: The graphical representation shows the effects of obesity by getting to middle ages above 35 years, on the probability of surviving to dissimilar ages. Clearly, reaching an over-weight (BMI=32) than a healthy weight (BMI=24) cuts life expectancy by nearly 3 years.
References
Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2012). Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Web.
Preventing Chronic Illness in Young Veterans by Promoting Healthful Behaviors. (2012). Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Web.
Statistics and Tracking. (2012). Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Web.
Department of Veterans Affairs. (2012). Health Care. Web.
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. (2012). NHLBI- Supported Research. Web.
National Institutes of Health. (2012). Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT). Web.
NCBI MeSH. (2012). Chronic Disease. Web.
Prospective studies collaboration. (2009). Body-mass index and Cause-specific mortality in 900 000 adults: collaborative analyses of 57 Prospective studies. Web.
The Oxford Health Alliance. (2012). Chronic disease: an economic Perspective. Web.
OECD. (2012). The prevention of life style related chronic diseases: An economic framework. Web.
World Health Organization. (2012). Chronic diseases. Web.