Cardiovascular Disease: A Critical Health Issue in the Community

This report delves into cardiovascular disease as a significant public health concern within communities, particularly focusing on the Australian context. It highlights the prevalence of congestive heart failure, citing alarming statistics on mortality and incidence rates, while also discussing the major risk factors like smoking, obesity, unhealthy diets, and sedentary lifestyles. The report then examines various interventions, including initiatives like the Million Hearts program and Healthy Heart 2020, and emphasizes the crucial role of public health nursing in disease prevention, patient education, and promoting healthy lifestyle choices. Furthermore, it recommends evidence-based interventions such as cholesterol-lowering management and lifestyle changes, supported by peer-reviewed research, to improve positive health outcomes. The report concludes by underscoring the importance of nurses in health promotion and heart disease prevention.

Running head: CRITICAL HEALTH ISSUE IN COMMUNITY
Critical health issue in community
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

CRITICAL HEALTH ISSUE IN COMMUNITY
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Critical health issue within the community................................................................................2
Factors contributing to the health issue......................................................................................3
Interventions in addressing the health concern..........................................................................4
Role of public health nursing in interventions to reduce the health issue..................................4
Recommending evidence in interventions to increase positive health outcomes......................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

CRITICAL HEALTH ISSUE IN COMMUNITY
Introduction
Community health is one of the most important aspects of present-day healthcare. The
health behaviour and approaches of individuals further govern their fitness Patterns.
Additionally, the environment and factors such as age, heritability also contributes towards
the development of diseases within an individual and community. Some of the health habits
such as unhealthy eating, sedentary lifestyle and smoking habits are major contributors
towards the development of cardiovascular diseases. The assignment discusses the role of
public health nursing care interventions in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease within
the population. The intervention methods have been evaluated over here to find out the best
possible alternative.
Critical health issue within the community
Cardiac health is one of the most important present-day health concerns. Due to
unhealthy habits and sedentary lifestyle, a number of health complications develop such as
obesity and diabetes. Some of these have been seen to contribute to the development of
congestive heart disorders. It is a condition where the pumping capacity of the heart muscles
get affected (Norhammar, Johansson, Thrainsdottir & Ryden, 2017). Under this condition,
blood clots around the heart muscles and affects its pumping capacity. The inability to pump
blood sufficiently can be lethal and can lead to congestive heart failure (Scott & Winters,
2015).
The dominance of congestive heart disorders within the Australian population can be
supported with the help of figures and statistics. Cardiovascular disease is one the major
contributors to congestive heart failure along with diabetes and hypertension. The figures are
alarming, where one Australian succumbs to congestive heart failure every 12 minutes

CRITICAL HEALTH ISSUE IN COMMUNITY
(Chandar et al., 2017). It affects one in six Australians which comes up to 4.2 million.
Cardiovascular diseases alone claimed the lives of 45, 392 Australians in 2015, which
accounts for 30% of the death cases (Mozaffarian et al., 2016). Every year around 54,000
Australians suffers from heart failure which is equivalent to one heart attack every ten
minutes. This could be related to and supported with the help of clinical risk factors such as
hypertension, high blood cholesterol, diabetes and obesity. In the year 2014/15, 6 million
Australians aged 18 and above had high blood pressure (Liu & Eisen, 2014). In the year
2011-2012, 5.6 million adult Australians had high cholesterol. A major contributor to the
development of heart disease was ischemic heart condition. In the year 2013- 2014, 71.8
million prescriptions related to cardiac diseases only were generated (Ouwerkerk, Voors &
Zwinderman, 2014).
Factors contributing to the health issue
Some of the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases are smoking, high blood pressure,
presence of high cholesterol content in the blood, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, unhealthy diet,
depression, social isolation are other important factors. Smoking is one of the important
causes of heart disease in Australia. In the year 2014/15, one in seven Australians who were
aged 15 years or over smoked on a daily basis (Mozaffarian et al., 2016). Smoking has been
seen to damage the lining of the artery leading to the development of atheroma; where fatty
material deposits around the arteries, leading to narrowing of the arteries (Chandar et al.,
2017). Obesity is another significant factor, which contributes towards the development of
cardiovascular diseases, as the heart muscles have to work extra for carrying sufficient
amount of oxygenated blood around the excess of adipose tissue accumulated.
Additionally, deposition of cholesterol within the arteries results in reducing the
normal flow of blood and results in the development of hypertension. As commented by

CRITICAL HEALTH ISSUE IN COMMUNITY
Members et al. (2014), high cholesterol-rich food results in the development of plagues
around the arterial walls. As argued by Ouwerkerk, Voors & Zwinderman (2014), diabetes
mellitus contributes to the development of congestive heart failure. The lamenting part of the
story is that one out of every six dollars spent in American healthcare is for cardiovascular
diseases (Woda, Belknap, Haglund, Sebern & Lawrence, 2015). However, the ones who have
received the treatment are not totally cured and continue to suffer from the same ailments.
Interventions in addressing the health concern
A number of initiatives had been taken by the US government for improving the
cardiac health within the community. One such initiative launched by the Department of
Health and Human Services along with a number of other public and private departments is
the Million hearts (Benjamin, 2012). The million hearts is aimed at empowering people by
removing the health disparities. Together heart disease and stroke kill 800,000 Americans
every year, which amounts to $444 million annually (Mozaffarian et al., 2016). Thus, the
figures are huge and worrisome and calls for social awareness. The emphasis of the million
heart initiatives can be divided into two main objectives such as -empowering the individuals
in making healthier choices, improving care by emphasising upon ABCS of heart attack and
stroke prevention. The ABCS can be expanded into - appropriate aspirin therapy (A), blood
pressure control (B), cholesterol management (C), smoking cessation (S). Additionally,
healthy heart 2020 is an initiative launched by the US government, whereby maximum
coverage for stroke prevention and cardiac health improvement is to be provided by the year
2020 (Egan et al., 2016).

CRITICAL HEALTH ISSUE IN COMMUNITY
Role of public health nursing in interventions to reduce the health issue
The nurses play a critical role in reducing the risk of congestive heart failure. They do
so mostly by employing methods of disease prevention at the same time educate the patient
regarding behaviour change and healthy lifestyle approaches. The individual expertise and
competencies help in the promotion of cardiac health. As commented by Paul & Hice
(2014), the nurses can lead to positive health outcomes by making the patients aware of their
illness and incorporate self-management strategies, such as exercise and healthy diet. The
transformational theories of nursing have been helpful in accessing the current situation of
the patient and implement the necessary changes.
Recommending evidence in interventions to increase positive health outcomes
Some of the evidence which could be suggested over here for increasing positive
health outcomes within the community is cholesterol-lowering management, lifestyle
changes. It has been seen that one 3 out of 5 people have shown improvements in their
overall health when asked to lower cholesterol by the practising physicians (Members et al.,
2014). The million hearts further support such objectives by implementing the ABCS of
heart attack and stroke prevention. Furthermore, experiments conducted with control and
intervention groups supported the argument.
Conclusion
The evidence has been further supported with the help of peer-reviewed journals
which helps in generating a comprehensive understanding based on separate research
findings. In the article provided by Kemppainen integrative review has been conducted
whereas in the article provided by Benjamin systematic review had been conducted. Both

CRITICAL HEALTH ISSUE IN COMMUNITY
have been used for gathering sufficient evidence and facts about nurse’s role in health
promotion and heart disease prevention.

CRITICAL HEALTH ISSUE IN COMMUNITY
References
Benjamin, R. M. (2012). The Million HeartsTM Initiative: Progress in Preventing Heart
Attacks and Strokes. Public Health Reports, 127(6), 558–560.
Chandar, M., Brockstein, B., Zunamon, A., Silverman, I., Dlouhy, S., Ashlevitz, K., ... &
Obel, J. (2017). Perspectives of health-care providers toward advance care planning in
patients with advanced cancer and congestive heart failure. American Journal of
Hospice and Palliative Medicine®, 34(5), 423-429.
Egan, B. M., Li, J., White, K., Fleming, D. O., Connell, K., Hernandez, G. T., ... & Sinopoli,
A. (2016). 2013 ACC/AHA Cholesterol Guideline and Implications for Healthy
People 2020 Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Goals. Journal of the American
Heart Association, 5(8), 558.
Kemppainen, V., Tossavainen, K., & Turunen, H. (2013). Nurses' roles in health promotion
practice: an integrative review. Health Promotion International, 28(4), 490-501.
Liu, L., & Eisen, H. J. (2014). Epidemiology of heart failure and scope of the problem.
Cardiology clinics, 32(1), 1-8.
Members, W. G., Go, A. S., Mozaffarian, D., Roger, V. L., Benjamin, E. J., Berry, J. D., ... &
Franco, S. (2014). Heart disease and stroke statistics—2014 update: a report from the
American Heart Association. circulation, 129(3), e28.
Mozaffarian, D., Benjamin, E. J., Go, A. S., Arnett, D. K., Blaha, M. J., Cushman, M., ... &
Howard, V. J. (2016). Executive summary: heart disease and stroke statistics—2016
update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 133(4), 447-454.

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Norhammar, A., Johansson, I., Thrainsdottir, I. S., & Rydén, L. (2017). Congestive Heart
Failure. Textbook of Diabetes, 659-672.
Ouwerkerk, W., Voors, A. A., & Zwinderman, A. H. (2014). Factors influencing the
predictive power of models for predicting mortality and/or heart failure
hospitalization in patients with heart failure. JACC: Heart Failure, 2(5), 429-436.
Paul, S., & Hice, A. (2014). Role of the acute care nurse in managing patients with heart
failure using evidence-based care. Critical care nursing quarterly, 37(4), 357-376.
Scott, M. C., & Winters, M. E. (2015). Congestive heart failure. Emergency Medicine
Clinics, 33(3), 553-562.
Woda, A., Belknap, R. A., Haglund, K., Sebern, M., & Lawrence, A. (2015). Factors
influencing self-care behaviors of African Americans with heart failure: A photovoice
project. Heart & Lung: The Journal of Acute and Critical Care, 44(1), 33-38.