Since the smoking rate has been decreasing for over a decade, the prevalence of complications and comorbidities has declined. Studies have indicated that the rate of smoking reduced from 24.1% to 19.0% in over a decade in the United States (Hackshaw et al., 2018). Despite the decline, smoking’s negative impacts on people’s health today have gone far beyond lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to include other illnesses. These illnesses include tuberculosis (TB), HIV, alcohol abuse, and mental illnesses. These negative impacts have made smoking a dangerous affair due to the several comorbidities attached to it. The paper will, therefore, focus on correlating African American smokers to having an increase in comorbidities.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that close to 6.8 million African Americans smoke tobacco (CDC, 2020). The report suggests that even though smoking is not prevalent among the youth, many of them usually start smoking at an older age, thus bringing out the uniqueness of this cultural population. Statistics show that African Americans’ smoking prevalence during adulthood is comparable to that of white adults (CDC, 2020). The high prevalence rate of smoking has resulted in many diseases that have weakened the immune system, giving an easy passage for other deadly diseases such as TB, cancer, stroke, and heart disease.
TB is today the world’s leading cause of death due to a single infectious agent, and generally, it is the sixth leading cause of death in the world, killing people in millions annually. Smoking always increases the chances of developing TB, and it makes its treatment less effective. Studies indicate that the TB prevalence rate would decline as much as 20% if African Americans stopped smoking (The Tobacco Atlas, 2021). The dire consequences of smoking are magnified and accelerated amongst HIV patients due to tobacco use (Bediako et al., 2017). They develop airway diseases such as lung cancer and heart disease at a higher rate and at younger ages than HIV-infected non-smokers. The continued use of tobacco always threatens the effectiveness of HIV primary treatment. Ultimately if these comorbidities are not addressed, they usually result in death.
The five nursing processes may be instrumental in addressing comorbidities issues. The five procedures critically address the smoking issue among the old African Americans and offer remedies that can be effectively implemented in society or the healthcare sector to help them (Bediako et al., 2017). Assessment is the first stage of the nursing process conducted to establish the comorbidities among the old African Americans that developed in the course of their smoking. Besides, their medical history is also assessed to establish if any preexisting medical condition may trigger the severity of the comorbidity.
The diagnosis stage is initiated after that to establish the cultural population’s current or potential health condition. The stage establishes the reasons why many old African Americans are hooked on smoking compared to the youths. The stage points out that the critical body organs are damaged as a result of smoking, thereby attracting comorbidities. The end of the diagnosis sets the stage for simple, achievable, and measurable treatment plans such as giving medication and counseling to the cultural population.
The implementation stage is usually critical, and it requires a lot of accuracy to prevent any form of adversities. For instance, for the cultural population, a more caring approach is used due to their age. For this cultural population, it is anticipated that positive results will be obtained due to the exact steps that have been incorporated. With the treatment done, the evaluation stage is initiated, and its essence is to ascertain if the used interventions improved, stabilized, or deteriorated the patient’s condition. The caregiver will enter all these aspects into the evaluation form for easy documentation.
In conclusion, the smoking problem that has engulfed the world concerning comorbidities is worrying a lot. Millions of old African Americans, continue to suffer through this scourge, whose prevalence continues to increase every day. Nonetheless, it is encouraging to see that people have taken the initiative to stop smoking, and the nurses, among other care providers, are increasingly assisting them in treating the comorbidities.
References
Bediako, D., Borghol, Darensburg, T. B., Stirling, D. L., Williams, R. S., Sarpong, D. F., & Onor, I. O. (2017). Clinical effects of cigarette smoking: Epidemiologic impact and review of pharmacotherapy options. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(10), 1147. Web.
CDC. (2020). African Americans and Tobacco Use. Center for Disease Controll. Web.
Hackshaw, A., Morris, J. K., Sadie, B., Milenkovic, D., & Tang, J.-L. (2018). Low cigarette consumption and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: Meta-analysis of 141 cohort studies in 55 study reports. British Medical Journal, 360. Web.
The Tobacco Atlas. (2021). Comorbidities. Web.