Heart Disease is the leading cause of mortality among adults in the United States. According to statistics gathered, the mortality as a result of heart disease in Mississippi was estimated to be 1.4 times higher as compared to the national rates in 2013. It was established that out of the total adult deaths in Mississippi, 25% are attributed to heart disease. The disease prevalence and mortality is high among the blacks and men in Mississippi as compared to the rest of the population in the state. Recent statistical reports show that mortality related to heart disease in the United States has significantly reduced. The reduction happened between 1973 and 2010. However, the decline is different for different geographic areas and races. A study by Vincent and colleagues, studies the patterns in the rates of mortality in the adult populations associated with Heart Disease subtypes in Mississippi since 1980 to 2013.
The study gathered data from Mississippi Vital Statistics to come up with mortality rates for Heart Disease subtypes that are age specific for Mississippi dwellers who are 35 years and above. Cases were identified through establishing the root source mortality retrieved from the database for disease classification. Joint point software was used in establishing the average yearly change in the rates of mortality linked to heart disease subtypes according to sex, age and sex. However, some heart disease subtypes such as rheumatic heart disease, rheumatic fever and pulmonary disease were not studied because there is no adequate statistics about them. Data from Mississippi census was used in identifying heart disease mortality rates according to age and standard errors for populations in the state of Mississippi for the various races and gender. Joint point regression was used in analyzing and establishing the trend breaks and a 95% confidence level calculated and tried in establishing whether the variation is significant from a statistic point of view.
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The outcomes of the study indicate that mortality rates related to heart illness according to age reduced by 62.7% from 1980 to 2013. Mortality rates related to heart failure went up by 66.7% for the various age groups between 1980 and 2013. Trends were different for the heart disease subtypes. Although a decrease in deaths caused by coronary heart disease was seen, rates in heart failure were significantly high in women, the whites and those who are 75 years and above. The study concludes that from 1989 to 2013, HD mortality rates have gone down while heart failure on the other hand has significantly shot up for the adult population in Mississippi. Heart disease subtypes patterns were observed to vary according to age, sex and race. The study’s limitations include the use of death certificates which may lead to bias. The changes in the coding to ICD-10, may negatively impact the quality of information gathered from the death certificates. The results of this study are valuable to this project because they give an insight into the current status and prevalence of the health problem being addressed.
According to the Rural Health Information Hub, approximately 12% of Mississippians do not have health insurance coverage. This was identified through a study carried out on the social determinants of health. The data used was gathered from various secondary sources which include the Kaiser foundation and the USDA economic research service. From the results obtained, the average per capita income for the people living in Mississippi is approximately $36,636. That of individuals living in the rural areas was $34,181. In addition, the poverty levels in Mississippi are estimated to be at 23.1% while that of those living in the urban areas of the state is around 15.9%. The rates of unemployment in the rural areas of Mississippi stand at 5.6% and 4.6% for those living in the urban areas in the state. However, the data gathered for the study could lead to bias arising from the sources. The study concludes that unemployment, poverty and income are some of the determinants of health in Mississippi.
Looking at the Uproot summary report, Mississippi is ranked at the bottom end in most of the health indicators. According to the findings of the report, although a number of groups have invested adequate time and resources towards enhancing the health status of Mississippi population, little progress has been noted. Data for the study was collected from the State Health Status Assessment data report. The assessment was carried out using epidemiological analysis of both national and state surveillance data. The study identified that factors such as levels of education, access to care, poverty and others are determinants of health and create disparities in health care access and delivery. In addition, the study states that a majority of the health related problems stem from social challenges with roots in geographical aspects, cultural practices, and historical perspectives . The study relies on secondary data sources which involved large surveys. Therefore the information collected from the respondents could have been altered by the interviewees thereby causing bias.
According to Sanadand, clinical preventive services can offer excellent value. The article measures the benefits, costs and harm in one measurement. This involved an intervention and a comparison. The outcomes of the study were expressed as the range in the results. This was them divided by the net variation in costs. The study suggests that most of the preventive strategies are not cost effective. They are cost ineffective.
The study offers examples of US Preventive Services Task Force strategies. These include screening, chemoprophylactic, and counseling services that are proven to be effective when implemented in programs. The Partnership for Prevention in the recent past came up with strategies identified to be effective because of their likely health impacts and cost-effectiveness. The strategies were then arranged from those giving the greatest health benefit and value to those with the least. The study states that among the best immunization, counseling, vaccination against pneumonia for the elderly and others. However, the study is not lacking in limitations. This is because it relies on secondary data sources
Fitango health report states that most of the preventive strategies implemented offer excellent value. Some of them such as screening can reduce costs. The results of the study found that with prevention activities, it is possible to enhance the wellbeing of the people living in Mississippi. The data analyzed was collected by the researcher from the state health data records. The report concludes that disease prevention involves a number of steps. The steps include reducing the major disease risk factors, preventing obesity and overweight, vaccination, nutrition, smoking cessation and many other related factors. The approaches present some weaknesses and also some strength. Their strength is found in that they can help in ensuring that populations adopt healthy practices. Health practices in turn lead to improved health and wellbeing. This in the end would enable a population engage in activities that enhance the progress of the community/society. However, implementing such programs can be expensive. In addition, most people may not be able to follow and implement all the program requirements to the later. It would therefore become impossible to achieve improvements in the population’s health and wellbeing.
Harris in the study of epidemiology in chronic illnesses explains that early detection involves diagnosis of an illness before its progression. In such a case, the prevalence of the disease is established. About heart disease, program implementation should put focus on activities geared towards preventing the development of the disease in people. The article findings show that heart disease prevention programs can play a crucial part in reducing the high financial burden that comes from treatment of heart disease. In addition, it can help in promoting healthy living in the community, reduced morbidity and mortality rates related to the disease and create a productive community in the society.
Although this study has its own limitations such as limited information on prior identification of the illness and unreliability of some of its data sources, it has some strength in the preventive strategies proposed. The results of this article are important to the program in that it offers some of the strategies that are cost effective and at the same time the best in preventing heart disease and consequently reduced mortality associated with the disease.
References
Detels, R., Gulliford, M., Karim, Q. A., & Tan, C. C. (2017). Oxford textbook of global public health. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fitango Health. (2017). The importance of heart disease prevention. Retrieved from https://www.fitangohealth.com/single-post/2017/03/14/The-Importance-of-Heart-Disease-Prevention
Harris, P. E. (2013). Epidemiology of chronic disease: global perspectives. New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Mendy, V. L., Vargas, R., & Payton, M. (2017). Trends in mortality rates by subtypes of heart disease in Mississippi, 1980–2013. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0161194
Ruralhealthinfo. (2019). Mississippi. Retrieved from https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/states/mississippi
Sadanand, V. (2015). Why is an ounce of prevention better than a pound of cure? Retrieved from http://idealhealthcare.net/index.php/2015/09/15/disease-prevention/
Shim, J. K. (2014). Heart-sick: the politics of risk, inequality, and heart disease. New York: NYU Press.
Uproot. (2019). Building a healthier Mississippi from the ground up. Retrieved from https://uprootms.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/sha-ship-summary3.pdf
