Heart disease in older people - Term Paper Example

Heart diseases in older people affiliation Heart diseases in older people Introduction The aged population is usuallyprone to many diseases. Old age is accompanied by a weak metabolic system. This makes them an easy target for disease. With a low metabolic system and bodily strength fighting disease among the aged becomes a hard task. The situation is usually complicated to a point that some live in full time medication. It is for this reason that state governments have come up with advanced nursing homes.

This makes it easier to administer medication and monitor their health. One of the diseases that are most common in the aged population is the heart diseases. Heart diseases mostly affect the aged since they have a very weak system. According to Elliot, Aitken & Chaboyer (2006) about 43% of deaths among the aged population in Australia is usually caused by heart diseases. This paper will focus on smoking and obesity as factors causing heart diseases. The paper will focus on diabetes pressure as the heart disease.

According to the Diabetes Atlas (2007), diabetes is chronic condition which is result of an individual having too much sugar in their blood system. Diabetes is also associated with a low production of insulin in the blood system. Factor 1: Obesity An insight on obesity as a causing factor indicates it as a major cause. Less generation of insulin in the body can be caused by lack of physical exercises. An obese person has fewer activities which lowers the activity levels of the metabolic system (Williams, 2002).

An inactive metabolic system generates very low levels of insulin in the body. Reduced insulin levels make it difficult for one to control their blood sugar levels. In the older population, obesity makes it difficult for them to recover from diabetes. As a factor causing heart diseases high cholesterol levels are the main factors. Obesity in older people is accompanied by greater levels of cholesterol. High cholesterol causes hardening of arteries. This in turn leads to blood clots in the arteries and sudden heart attacks.

In Australia the causes of heart attacks and obesity caused by high cholesterol is at 23% annually (Mitchell & Zwaan, 2007)). From the percentage 19% of the diagnosed individuals are above the age of 25.Factor 2: Smoking In Australia, smoking is the leading cause of heart diseases in older people. From the heart diseases, diabetes is one of the major diseases diagnosed. Apart from nicotine cigarettes contain other chemicals which have harmful effects to the heart. The chemicals heart the rhythm of the heart, cholesterol levels in the heart and the blood pressure.

In older people the effects are harsher since they have weak immune systems. Diabetes caused by smoking is more rampant in older people since insulin regulation sin their blood systems is greatly affected by nicotine. According to Diabetes Atlas (2007) nicotine and other chemicals found in cigarettes are responsible for about 35% of heart diseases diagnosed cases in Australia. The statistics From the results some statistics have been confirmed. Diabetes affects about 8.3 % of the aged Australian population (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011).

This is about 25.8 million people. From the 25.8 million people, 7 million are not diagnosed with the illness. 18.8 of the infected population have been diagnosed. Diabetes is rampant in individuals above the age of 65 years. The number of people with the illness and are above the age of 65 years stand at about 10.9 million (National Diabetes Statistics, 2011). This is roughly 26.9 % of the whole infected population. Only 215,000 people below the age of 20 years suffered from diabetes in the year 2010.

The results also indicated that 79 % of Australian citizens above the age of 20 years had pre-diabetes (Catanzariti, 2008). ReferencesAustralian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2011). Diabetes prevalence in Australia: Detailed estimates for 2007-08. (AIHW cat. no. CVD 56). Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Catanzariti, L. (2008). Incidence of type 1 diabetes in Australia. Sydney: Australian institute of health and welfare. Diabetes Atlas (2007). Third edition, International Diabetes Federation.Elliot, D., Aitken, L.

& Chaboyer, W. (2006). ACCCN’s Critical Nursing. Sydney: Elsevier Australia. Mitchell, J. & Zwaan, M. (2007). Binge eating disorder: Clinical foundation and treatment. New York: Guilford Press. Thapar, G. (2002). Diabetes. Delhi: Orient Black swan. The National Diabetes Statistics, 2011, Retrieved from: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics/Williams, D. (2002). The evidence base for diabetes care. New York: John Wiley & Sons.