Chronic Disease Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of Two Diseases

This report examines chronic disease surveillance, focusing on the monitoring and analysis of two significant health issues: Bipolar Disorder and Cancer. The report emphasizes the importance of surveillance in understanding disease trends, public perceptions, and the allocation of resources. It highlights the impact of Bipolar Disorder on individuals' daily lives and the need for data collection to inform medical interventions. The report also discusses the role of the World Health Organization in collecting relevant data. Furthermore, the report analyzes the causes and impact of cancer, particularly the link between smoking and various types of cancer, emphasizing the importance of public health campaigns and monitoring efforts to reduce its prevalence. The report concludes by highlighting the benefits of disease surveillance for both healthcare practitioners and the public, emphasizing the importance of informed decision-making and preventative measures.

Running Head: CHRONIC DISEASES SURVEILLANCE1
Chronic Disease Surveillance
Name
Institution

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Disease surveillance is the activity including the monitoring of the illness trends, public
perceptions, the impacts, allocation of resources and other related policies. Chronic diseases like
mental issues that affect a considerate percentage of the population require surveillance to get the
required information that can help to reduce its impact (Wegner, 2010). The bipolar disorder is a
mental issue that results in sudden mood changes like elevation and depression of individual
mood. This particular psychological disease dramatically affects the way the victims conduct
their day to day activities. It is therefore vital to find out the statistics surrounding Bipolar
disorder to gain the critical information that can help medical professionals to deal with the
condition and plan for the future.
The World Health Organization is the primary source for this information as they keep medical
records of all registered medical institutions in the US. The essential data to gather will include
the age of the majority of victims, their gender and frequency or period of exposure to the
disease. Surveillance can be done by researching Bipolar disorder and its impact on the victims
as well as the kind of individuals it is likely to affect (Williamson, 2014). Specific data about the
individuals personal details is sometimes observed to be recurring in other patients with similar
characteristics as well. Monitoring of the disease is vital as it ensures that the population can
take all the necessary strategies to protect themselves from Bipolar disorder. The public gets all
the information related to the disorder and can now undertake the appropriate measures to stay
safe or at least reduce the impacts of the disease (Williamson, 2014).
A disease like cancer poses a significant threat to the health of many individuals in the US and it
is crucial to take the necessary steps to reduce its occurrence. One of the leading causes of cancer
according to (Wegner, 2010) is cigarette smoking as it brings about the different types of cancer
like mouth and lung. Many patients suffering from this disease are usually related to a past of

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smoking or exposure to the narcotic products. Surveillance of this disease will focus mostly on
the ages of individuals most likely to suffer from this chronic illness and use this information to
come up with a strategy to reduce its impact. The best method to reduce smoking is by negative
campaigns showing that the product hurts the health of the user which can be controlled by the
specific individual. Monitoring of cancer is in this case working to the advantage of reducing its
impact on the population (Wegner, 2010). The surveillance of both diseases is a great aspect that
works towards enlightening the public and health practitioners in their practice. The one for
Ipolar disorder helps the health practitioners to deal with their patients and deal with the situation
betters. Cancer monitoring is however helpful to both the nurses and the patients as the public
can learn from previous occurrences and protect themselves. Although sometimes these
interventions might not work to the benefit of the anti-cancer initiative, it helps medical
professional’s advice their clients.

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References
Wegner, M. V. (2010). Chronic disease surveillance. . Chronic disease epidemiology and
control, (Ed. 3), 95-115.
Williamson, T. G. (2014). Validating the 8 CPCSSN case definitions for chronic disease
surveillance in a primary care database of electronic health records. The Annals of Family
Medicine, 12(4), 367-372.