While some heart diseases are genetic and non-avoidable, others are preventable. These conditions comprise of heart contagion, inherited heart defects, heart valve disease on the heart muscle, and coronary artery disease. The severity of these heart conditions varies depending on age, sex, family history, diet, blood pressure levels, obesity, and physical activities. Often, people hold the believe that older persons are at higher risk of suffering from heart diseases compared to younger persons. This speculation on age is debatable. An article posted in the Center for Disease and Control website depicts that heart diseases are happening at younger ages. Heart diseases tend to develop at younger ages where most of the circumstances that cause these conditions are favoured. In order to prevent and treat heart conditions, consumption of healthy foods and committing to a healthy weight is recommended.
Cardiovascular diseases lead as causes of death worldwide, and they are credited with 10% of the overall deaths, with 85% of these occurring in low-income countries (Davari et al., 2019). Socioeconomic factors hold a substantial weight on heart diseases. Approaches tailored to be implemented based on individuals, communities, or selected populations show promising results. Implementing physical activities seconded by shifting of health care management basis from physician to nonphysician in regions characterized by low socioeconomic status has proved effective. Rise in nonphysician experts saw the growth of value-based care models (Nyweide et al., 2020). The evolving of clinician structure has widely altered labour force patterns in the health care distribution scheme.
An estimation by American Heart Association placed direct annual medical expenses incurred by the population suffering from hypertension at 131 billion dollars in excess of those not suffering from the disease (“Adults with high blood pressure face higher healthcare costs”, 2018). Guidelines on a diet recommend that persons older than 2 years consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium. This target is not met as individual Americans consume around 2,300 milligrams of sodium in a single day. Further, persons aged 51 and above, African-Americans, and people with hypertension and chronic diseases are advised to limit their daily sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams. (“Analysis of State Laws Related to Dietary Sodium Table of Laws Organized by Category of Policy”, 2022). By reducing the daily average sodium consumption by almost one third, the levels of current, and new instances of heart attack and stroke could be reduced.
With the increased awareness of the dangers associated with excess sodium consumption, most states have espoused policies expected to reduce levels of sodium in the foodstuffs. Central, national, and resident governments are merging efforts to improve cardiovascular health. A proposal passed in 2019 saw New York City as the initial city in the nation to set requirements for chain restaurants to parade an icon next to items that contain at least 2,300 milligrams of sodium. The proposal also requires restaurants to post a notice icon and a memo about health issues associated with the ingestion of high sodium levels (“Sodium Initiatives – NYC Health”, n.d.). Even though the levels of implementation pose as a challenge to assess, records suggest that there has been significant progress in the policies put in place to reduce the level of sodium consumed in the United States. Despite the advancement, more effort is needed, especially in countries where little or no effort is employed yet. A call to action is desired to sensitize governments to hasten efforts in order to meet the global target of 30 % reduction in sodium intake.
References
Adults with high blood pressure face higher healthcare costs. American Heart Association. (2018).
Analysis of State Laws Related to Dietary Sodium Table of Laws Organized by Category of Policy. Ncsl.org.
Davari, M., Maracy, M., & Khorasani, E. (2019). Socioeconomic status, cardiac risk factors, and cardiovascular disease: A novel approach to determination of this association. PubMed Central (PMC).
Sodium Initiatives – NYC Health. Www1.nyc.gov. Web.
Nyweide, D., Lee, W., & Colla, C. (2020). Accountable Care Organizations’ Increase In Nonphysician Practitioners May Signal Shift For Health Care Workforce | Health Affairs Journal. Healthaffairs.org.