Chronic Diseases Assignment

Chronic diseases
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(December, 2012)
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Chronic diseases
Chronic diseases refer to diseases that are persistent to treatment and sometimes keep on reoccurring. In simple terms chronic means a condition which can be treated but not automatically cured. In most cases these diseases occur as result of poor diet, poor living conditions, or inactive lifestyles. These diseases are not contagious because most of them are not as a result of infections. There are many types of chronic diseases which including arthritis, heart disease, cancer, and many others (Kuh & Shlomo, 2004).
Kuh and Shlomo say these diseases require a thorough care by a qualified health practitioner and the patient must fully cooperate with the instructions given by the doctor. There are different kinds of treatments offered to the patients to ease the disease symptoms but in most cases these diseases are not curable completely. Hence, resulting to routine of medicines, hospital visits, tests, therapies and even surgeries if need be. This paper will be analyzing three different chronically diseases (diabetes, heart disease and cancer) and outlining the mostly affected group of people in terms of age, gender, and race. It will also elaborate on the prevention and management of each disease (Kuh & Shlomo, 2004).
Diabetes
It is a condition in the human body as a result of high sugar levels that are above the normal. Diabetes is of two kinds; insulin- dependence diabetes which mostly affects the children and non insulin-dependence diabetes. The non insulin-dependence diabetes mostly affects people who are over forty years and the obese. The other minor kinds includes; pregnancy diabetes and secondary diabetes. The expectation mothers are always at risk of pregnancy diabetes; a condition usually referred to as gestational diabetes and most cases disappears after giving birth. However, if one has this condition she has high probability of having the main types of diabetes. Secondary diabetes refers to a condition of high level of sugar as a result of other conditions in the body. For instance, when one is affected by pancreas inflammation sugar level is not regulated well (Kuh & Shlomo, 2004).
Diabetes is popular at older age; however, the young are not save either. According studies in America done in 2010 in America, 27% of the people over 65 years were affected by this condition. The young (below 20years) and affected represented 0.2% of the people affected. This gives us the authority to say that the older you became the higher the risk of having the condition. Records of those that were affected in reference to race were as follows; the natives 16%, blacks, 12%, and Hispanics 12%. Out this data we can say the natives have the high chances of been affected than the other races in America. The study also showed that the women who had gestational diabetes had about 60% probability of getting the main types in a span of 20years (Kuh & Shlomo, 2004).
This condition can be treated in two ways; medication with tablets or insulin and instruction on healthy eating and exercise. Injecting insulin in the body activates it to bring down the sugar levels. The tablets taken orally are either to either to increase insulin or delay the absorption of glucose in the body. If the condition persist the doctor direct the patient on better healthy diets and how to do exercise.
As the treatment continues, regular checks are done as a way of managing the condition. Check-ups are done to determine if the treatment is satisfactory or not. These check-ups are grouped into two: regular (evaluation of glucose readings, blood pressure, weight, and others) and annual (blood samples to determine amount of HbA1c, fats) check-ups (Kuh & Shlomo, 2004).
Heart disease
Poon, Gueldner &Sprouse, 2003 acknowledges that heart disease is a general term that describes a number of diseases that affects the heart organ. Some of the diseases that are under this umbrella includes: diseases of the blo...