Exploring Social Determinants as Risk Factors for CVD in Australia

This report examines the impact of social determinants of health as risk factors for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) in Australia. It identifies key social determinants such as income, education, employment, and access to healthcare, and their direct contribution to CVD. The report also highlights the risk factors associated with CVD, including smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and hypertension, further exploring sociocultural determinants like culture, religion, peers, media, and family. Certain groups are identified as being at higher risk, including Australian Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, people with low socioeconomic status, those in remote areas, the elderly, and smokers. The report concludes that there is a need for immediate action from health organizations to design control, treatment, and prevention strategies, emphasizing the significant link between CVD and social determinants of health in Australia.

Running head: HEALTH PROMOTION
Health Promotion
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1HEALTH PROMOTION
Determinants of health can be described as the factors that are main causes of staying
healthy or to become ill. There are several that exist in our working conditions and the everyday
living conditions. All these contribute to the circumstances in which people age, work, live and
grow. The social determinants of health are the factors that include the social support,
employment, education and income. The health of a particular person is influenced by the
different types of the biomedical factors and are thus the part of a person's genetic makeup and
the individual lifestyle. The factors have a negative effective effect on the health of a person. In
the year 2014, it has been noted that the 23 percent of the adults have the high blood pressure and
this has resulted into several diseases like the chronic kidney diseases, heart failure and stroke
(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). This study will be based on the impact of the
social determinants of health as risk factors for Cardiovascular Disease in Australia.
Social determinants of health- The different social determinants of health that directly
contribute to the cardiovascular diseases are the material conditions that depend on the wealth
and the income of a person; health; education; political voice; social connections; environment;
physical insecurity that includes both violence and crime; access to the personal activities. It is
important to note that the lower levels of education are associated with the occurrence of the
cardiovascular risk factors. The rates of the cardiovascular diseases are the most among the
among the person that lack literacy and numeracy. Income and the income inequality is studied
in relation to the cardiovascular diseases. It is noticed that the inequalities in income have a
direct relationship with the education of a person. It has been found that the families that have
good income and wealth, such families experience less cardiovascular morality. The
occupational status/employment has connections with the cardiovascular diseases but it is not
clear (Havranek et al., 2015). Whereas it is easy to establish a link between the cardiovascular

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disease and unemployment. There are more of a psychological effect on a person that has a
biological like with the development of the cardiovascular disease. The poor socioeconomic
condition is a major risk in the development of the children and the early life factors play a major
role in the development of cardiovascular disease in the later part of life. There is a consistent
evidence of social determinants and its association with the several risk factors like alcohol
consumption, physical activity, smoking, fibrinogen, body mass index, lipid levels, blood
pressure. Access to healthcare itself is a complex aspect that has its roots with the cardiovascular
disease. it incorporates the characteristics like the appropriateness, affordability, accommodation,
availability, acceptability, approachability. The residential environments or the living conditions
that vary with the time, place, a person has led to the variance in the cardiovascular disease
among the individuals (Havranek et al., 2015).
The risk factors of the cardiovascular diseases- There are many risk factors that are
related to the cardiovascular diseases. The main issues of the cardiovascular diseases are the
smoking, obesity, physical activity, hypertension (hypertension). These risk factors have the risk
factors associated with them. High-fat diets, eating high-calorie foods are the major contributors
to obesity and this causes the cardiovascular diseases. The recent trend shows that in Australia
the scenario of overweight and obesity is up. Inactivity has been considered to be the major
contributor of obesity and high rates of obesity have been seen to be associated with the
cardiovascular diseases. Unhealthy eating, sedentary lifestyle is the major social determinates of
health that contribute negatively to the health of the Australians (Australian Medical Association,
2018). Thus, it is seen that the inactivity and obesity both contribute positively to hypertension
like the smoking does. Smoking is also found to be contributing positively to atherosclerosis and
this is the main cause of cardiovascular disease. Smoking is also a social determinant of health

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that is the underlying cause of cardiovascular diseases. The trend in smoking across Australia is
found to be upwards and the other risk factors that like up to the development of the
cardiovascular diseases is the family history. Thus, some of the protective measures that can be
suggested for the cardiovascular diseases are: eating a balanced diet that is low in saturated fats,
regular health check-up, and regular physical activity (Humanrights.gov.au, 2018). The
sociocultural determinants that contribute positively to the determinants of the cardiovascular
diseases include the culture, religion, peers, media and family. It is also important to note that the
genetics also play a major role in the several chronic diseases and this includes the
cardiovascular disease as well. Along with the contribution of the genetics that is inherited,
growing up in a family that is obese and overweight, eating food that has high sugar content,
eating food that have high content of saturated fat, children that grow and live in a similar kind
of the lifestyle and also make the similar kind of the lifestyle choices. All these factors
contribute positively to the to the risk factors of the development of cardiovascular diseases.
Peers influence the others to make poor quality health choices like the pressurizing to smoke and
this can also lead to the development of the cardiovascular diseases (Psaltopoulou et al., 2017).
There are other social determinants of health like the education, income and employment. The
lifestyle choices are especially influenced by the knowledge and health literacy and especially
education. It has been seen that the high levels of education are able to produce the low incidence
of cardiovascular diseases. cardiovascular diseases are seen in high rates in the blue-collar
employment. It has been found that it is often linked with the other lifestyle choices and other
forms of employment like the drinking, smoking and having the foods that contain the high
quantity of the saturated fat diets. The lower income levels are related to very few health-related

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choices. Many may incur the cost to the individual like the buying the lean meat in place of the
regular meat, joining a gym (Martínez-García et al., 2018).
Groups at risk- there are groups that are at risk of the cardiovascular diseases and this
include the following:
 Australian Aboriginals and the Torres Islanders (ATSI) experience as many as 2.6
times of heart attack over the other Australians that are over 25 years. The ATSI
are also 1.7 times more likely to have a stroke.
 The people that have a very low socio-economic status are at a 40 percent higher
rate of having the cardiovascular disease and also stroke.
 Remote and the rural places have a higher burden of stroke in comparison to the
people that live in the major cities (Shepherd, Li & Zubrick, 2012).
 The elderly people that are about 15 percent of those that are having the coronary
heart diseases and this account for about 70 percent of the people that had a
stroke.
 The smokers are at a higher risk of developing the cardiovascular diseases.
 The males suffer more from the cardiovascular diseases than the female
counterparts (Pmc.gov.au, 2018).
The Australian Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders experience the biggest burden
of the disease. It has been seen that the disease burden has majorly increased due to the socio-
economic disadvantaged condition. The Indigenous Australians that are living in the most
disadvantaged socio-economic condition experience the largest disease burden. The areas that is
the least socioeconomically disadvantaged, in such areas the disease burden is twice much
higher. A gradient has been noticed in the areas that have the increasing socio-economic

5HEALTH PROMOTION
disadvantaged and this is observed in the non-disease groups (Brown et al., 2014). A large
number of the relative differences is noticed in the socio-economic group are cardiovascular
diseases, urinary and kidney diseases, endocrine disorders, mental and the substance use
disorders. The high rates of blood pressure are noticed by the individuals that are aged 12. The
rates are also lower in individuals that live in the advantaged areas in comparison to the
individuals that live in the disadvantaged areas (Health.gov.au, 2018).
Thus, from the above study, it can be concluded that there has been a steady rise in the
incidence of the cardiovascular diseases all around the world. This condition thus demands an
immediate action from the international health organizations, health agencies and the public
health agencies in Australia. Apart from the genetic and the physiologic basis, it has been widely
seen that the cardiovascular diseases have a highly relevant link with the social determinants of
health. Thus, there is a demand for the designing the control strategies, treatment and the
prevention strategies. In Australia, the disease burden that arises from the social determinants of
health and the cardiovascular diseases have affected all the citizens and the indigenous people
alike. The lifestyle choices and the eating habits to large extent has affected the health of the
individuals.

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Reference
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