How do Psychosocial Factors Influence Cardiac Health

1300 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impacts of lower socioeconomic status on health

How do psychosocial factors influence cardiac health?

Cardiac related health problems are one of the leading causes of death in industrialized areas throughout the Western world.1 Psychosocial factors such as stress and anxiety are often disregarded but have a major role to play in the development of cardiac disease. These factors are mostly manageable, allowing the risk of cardiac disease to decrease. This paper aims to discuss the influence of these psychosocial risk factors on cardiac health using the findings of epidemiological studies and the pathophysiology. The management of these risk factors will also be discussed. This will aid an understanding of the psychosocial factors that may have influenced Mr. Petersen’s health and his difficulty in making changes to his lifestyle.

Risk Factors

There are many risk factors for cardiac problems; these can be classified as modifiable and non-modifiable. Non-modifiable risk factors include family history, age, and sex while modifiable risk factors include smoking, unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, hypercholestereamia and hypertension. An aspect of modifiable risk factors that is often overlooked is psychosocial risk factors, these include: stress, anxiety and other negative emotional states such as anger, depression and social isolation.1 Anxiety and stress will be discussed in further detail.

Social and cultural factors influence cardiac disease as well. We live a westernized culture where fast foods and a sedentary lifestyle is prevalent, this increases certain risk factors. Socio-economic status and finance may increase stress or anxiety in a person and indirectly increase risk factors of cardiac disease as well.

Anxiety and Stress

Anxiety and stress are oft...

... middle of paper ...

... Co; 2009. 19-28.

4. Helman CG. Cultural aspects of stress and suffering. Culture Health and Illness. 5th ed. London: Hodder Arnold Publication; 2007. 289 – 293.

5. Taylor S. Heart disease, Hypertension, Stroke and Type II Diabetes. Health Psychology. 8th ed. Los Angeles: McGraw Hill; 2011. 311 – 337.

6. Rozanski A, Blumenthal J, Davidson K, Saab P, Kubzansky l. The Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, and management of Psychosocial Risk Factors in Cardiac Practice: The emerging field of behavioural cardiology. 2005; 45(5):637-651.

7. Stress and anxiety. [online]. 2011 [cited 2014, Apr 21]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003211.htm.

8. Das S, O’Keefe JH. Behavioural Cardiology: recognizing and addressing the profound impact of psychosocial stress on cardiovascular health. Current Atherosclerosis Reports. 2006; 8: 111-118.

Show More
Related

  • The Unnatural Causes: Film Analysis

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Unnatural Causes film, UC Berkley Professor and Epidemiologist, Leonard Syme, states that an important component of overall health is the “ability to influence the events that impinge on your life,” or another words, the means by which you are able to effectively manage the stressors in your life will greatly impact your health (2015). It is common knowledge that stress can negatively impact your health and the film points out that chronic stress affects the body by increasing cortisol levels, heart rate, blood pressure, circulating glucose levels and decreases the immune system’s response. All of this increases the risks of diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses (Smith, director, 2015). If we have power, control and

    Read More

  • Katy Crisis Case Studies

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therefore, prolonged stress included adverse psychological and physical health effects as well as the increased risk of premature death (Denollet, J., et al.

    Read More

  • The Framingham Heart Case Study

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    It was to this respect that, the search could detect ‘’hypertension’’ as the leading risk factor for heart disease. And this preceded three quarters of heart failures cases as compared to coronary artery disease, which led to most heart failures in less than 40% of the cases. Also, an increase in left ventricular end-diastolic diameter became a mirror to the Framingham study as incident heart diseases in the individuals who are free from myocardial infarction. Although studies have shown that, the manifestation of heart failures can be present without the left ventricular systolic dysfunction, other risk factors could lead to that. Also, they (Framingham study) were able to detect ‘’too much of cholesterol’’ as a link to cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, research believed that has elevated among certain heart diseases such as coronary heart often leads to stroke, too high blood pressure among numerous patients. Having said that, the search discovered ‘’obesity’’ also as a concomitantly with hypertension which elevates lipids and diabetes versus questions on smoking behavior. Having said that, these risk factors are believed to have attributed to heart diseases. Therefore, it became a national concern to the general US population and that of the fourth director of Framingham heart study, William Castelli

    Read More

  • The Use of Coining in Southeastern Asian Cultures

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nguyen, D. (1985). Culture shock--a review of vietnamese culture and its concepts of health and disease. The Western Journal of Medicine, 142(3), 409-412. Retrieved from http://proxy.samuelmerritt.edu:2106/pmc/articles/PMC1306060/

    Read More

  • African American Mortality Essay

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    The contributing factor is lack of knowledge and family medical screening. Understanding the history of your genetic line specific to your race and ethnicity may be helpful in preventing heart disease later on in adulthood.... ... middle of paper ... ... Current studies of note have focused primarily on middle-class and/or suburban populations.

    Read More

  • Who Helped Who In World War Two?

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are several factors that cause heart disease such as: smoking, certain fats, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, hi...

    Read More

  • Indigenous Health Essay

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through showing the different definitions of health, the authors explain how those different understandings affect patterns of behavior on health depend on different cultures. In addition, an analysis of the models of health demonstrates even western medical approaches to health have different cognitions, same as the Indigenous health beliefs. The most remarkable aspect is a balance, a corresponding core element in most cultures which is an important consideration in Indigenous health as well. From an Indigenous perspective, health is considered as being linked, and keeping the connection is a priority to preserve their health. Consequently, health is a very much culturally determined. Health practitioners should anticipate and respect the cultural differences when they encounter a patient from various cultures. In particular, this article is good to understand why the Indigenous health beliefs are not that different than western medicine views using appropriate examples and comparative composition, even though the implementation the authors indicated is a bit abstract, not

    Read More

  • The Heart: The Anatomy Of The Heart

    1307 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are multiple cardiovascular diseases that can occur in some people that can be moderate and some severe. A heart attack is one of them and it happens when blood is blocked by a clot, making the heart unable to pump blood throughout the body. Most of cardiovascular diseases are related to lifestyles and other non-preventable factors like ages. Coronary artery disease is a heart disease, that is caused by atherosclerosis, which is a buildup of plaque in the arteries which causes less blood flow to the heart. If plaque were to rupture it can block blood vessels which then leads to “unstable angina or a heart attack” (NHLBI). The heart also has different heart rhythms, people with bradycardia have a slow heart rate sometimes below 60. Some causes of bradycardia are increased vagal tone, SA disease, and digitoxin od. However, sometimes this can be normal in athletes who are very fit. On the opposite side we have tachycardia, which has a heart greater than 100 BPM. The causes for tachycardia usually are exercise, fever, anxiety, hypovolemia, anemia, pump failure, hypoxia, and high parathyroid

    Read More

  • Underlying Risks for Cardiovascular Disease

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since 1960 the age-adjusted mortality rates for cardiovascular disease (CVD) has declined steadily in the U.S. due to multiple factors, but still remains one of the primary causes of morbidity and premature mortality worldwide. Greater control of risk factors and improved treatments for cardiovascular disease has significantly contributed to this decline (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). In the U.S. alone it claims approximately 830,000 each year and accounts for 1/6 of all deaths under the age of 65 (Weiss and Lonnquist, 2011). Based on the 2007 mortality rate data an average of 1 death every 37 seconds is due to cardiovascular disease (Lloyd-Jones et al., 2009). Controlling and reducing risk factors is crucial for saving lives. There are a number of contributing risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which may appear in the form of hereditary, behavioral, and psychological, all of which ultimately converge in social or cultural factors.

    Read More

  • Leading Causes of Death in The United States

    2023 Words  | 5 Pages

    One of the leading causes of death in the United States is heart disease. “Approximately every 29 seconds one American will have a heart attack, and once a minute one American will die from a heart attack” (Ford-Martin and Odle, 915). According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine men over the age of 45 and women over the age of 55 are considered at risk for heart disease. Heart disease is a major cause of death. It is beneficial to individuals who seek to prevent heart disease to recognize the risks leading to heart attacks as they are one of the primary indications of developing heart disease; especially those that fall into the at risk age groups. These risks consist of some that cannot be changed such as heredity risks, or those that can change such as smoking habits. It is very important to know these specific risks for prevention and to understand the symptoms of heart attacks, such as sweating or the feeling of weakness so if these or other symptoms occur people are aware. Finally heart disease treatment is of vital importance if you experience a heart attack so you can learn how to prevent another one from occurring.

    Read More

  • Cardiovascular Disease Essay

    1424 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...essor in their life. Lastly, a heart attack may occur to an individual because of their personality and how they choose to deal with the conflict at hand.

    Read More

  • psychological disorders

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Culture has a huge influence on how people view and deal with psychological disorders. Being able to successfully treat someone for a mental illness has largely to do with what they view as normal in their own culture. In Western cultures we think that going to a counselor to talk about our emotions or our individual problems and/or getting some type of drug to help with our mental illness is the best way to overcome and treat it, but in other cultures that may not be the case. In particular Western and Asian cultures vary in the way they deal with psychological disorders. In this paper I am going to discuss how Asian cultures and Western cultures are similar and different in the way they view psychological disorders, the treatments and likelihood of getting treatment, culture bound disorders, and how to overcome the differences in the cultures for optimal treatments.

    Read More

  • The Social Determinants of Health Contribution to Mr. A’s Myocardial Infarction

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The health of individuals and populations is influenced and determined by many factors acting in various combinations. Healthiness, disease, disability and, ultimately, death are seen as the result of … human biology, lifestyle and environmental (e.g. social) factors…” (Mary Louise Fleming, 2009) There are many unchangeable contributing factors that play a role in a person’s health condition, this can be anything from the gender and location that they were born into, to genetic impairments and the lifestyle that their parents raised them in or even government policies; but for as many unchangeable factors, there are also changeable factors. In Mr. A’s case he was born from Pacific Islander descent, therefore it can be assumed that he was born into an obese family with little money, and was raised in poorer living conditions than the average Australian. Due to this, his health is expected to be worse that the average Australian because his social determinants make it so. He is now a full-grown man with a family, but still lives in problematic conditions due to his upbringing and culture along with the minimal to no levels of prevention shown. There are many risk factors that have affected Mr. A’s health due to the social determinants that he has been faced with such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, etc. There are also upstream and downstream factors affecting his health, “While upstream and midstream determinants influence the type, likelihood, number and severity of diseases that affect a person, downstream inequities come into play when a person becomes ill.” (AMA, 2007). These factors have had a major role in the result of his heart attack. Finally, his level of prevention exhibited is a key aspect on how much of an eff...

    Read More

  • Case Study Of John Martin's Systolic Blood Pressure

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    This test is used to see how much a patient is affected by external environmental factors. I would have him exercise and monitor how much blood flows through his heart within a set period of time. This would give me an estimation of how much he is affected by everyday stressors such as his family or job. His results would most likely reflect that he is easily stressed by external factors, allowing me to give him some tips on how to relieve stress. I would recommend that if his job becomes increasingly stressful that retirement or lightening his workload in the near future may be extremely beneficial to his mental and physical health. I would also help him find outlets to relieve stress and ease his transition into becoming a nonsmoker. Some suggestions include journaling, photography, or even exercise. Decreasing the amount of stress that John Martin has would also help lower his blood pressure, decreasing the amount of risk factors that he has for heart attack. I would know that this plan was successful when John Martin gave reports of being stress free without the aid of

    Read More

  • Stress Case Study

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stressors are both physiological and psychological demands placed on an individual from both internal and external environments that can disturb homeostasis. This disruption requires an action to return the body to a balance. Being able to recognize, understand, and cope with stress is critical to overall health and well being of an individual. The ability to cope with stress productively can alter the outcome of illness and prevent negative health outcomes altogether. Each person experiences and perceives stress differently both physiologically, psychologically, and can portray it differently externally. The way in which each person handles stress can influence the path for care they pursue if illness is present. In the absence of remedial

    Read More

More about How do Psychosocial Factors Influence Cardiac Health

Open Document