Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer in the United States. It includes heart attacks, strokes, and more, and it can be caused by a number of different factors, ranging from obesity, to unhealthy cholesterol levels, to, as some studies have suggested, stress. It’s no secret that heart disease is a bigger risk for the elderly, either. If you take into account the fact that many elderly people have been struggling with the above mentioned risk factors for years, the longer lifespans that they have had, and the risk of weakened immune and other defense systems, it just makes sense that this will be more of an issue for older individuals than younger ones.
Cardiovascular disease is also the most expensive disease to treat in the U.S. This is logical as it is so prevalent and so deadly. The issue with this is that the cost of treating heart disease is expected to skyrocket in the next 20 years or so. Experts have predicted that by the year 2035, it will cost about $1.1 trillion total to treat this. The number of people being treated is expected to rise to 131.2 million, which is projected to be 45 percent of the total population. In other words, this expensive and deadly disease is likely to become even more of an issue in the future.
The other side of this is that cardiovascular disease is often completely preventable, especially if healthy habits are introduced at a young age. With the population of elderly individuals set to keep increasing, this is an important thing to remember. Prevention is still the best way to treat heart disease and keep costs down. For those of us who are still young enough that we don’t yet need senior care for ourselves, we should begin to implement practices to improve our lives now, and thus lessen the need we might have for senior care in the future.
If you’re looking for care for an older loved one now, there are things that you can do. First of all, make sure that the in-home caregiver that you hire is professionally trained and knows what to do in an emergency situation. Hopefully your mom or dad never has a stroke or heart attack, but you want their caregiver to recognize the signs and know what should be done if they do have one. Next, try to help them implement healthy practices in their lives. Help them to quit smoking, eat healthier, get more exercise, and other things. If they are on medications to treat cardiovascular symptoms, make sure that they have a set schedule to remind them not to forget their meds. A trained caregiver can help with these things, too.
Cardiovascular disease is widespread and the number of people that it impacts is still growing. By doing our parts to help ourselves and our loved ones, we can begin to lessen the impact that it has on our families and keep our health and senior care costs down.
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