According to the most recent statistics, cardiovascular disease accounts for one in every three deaths in the United States. In fact, this is so prevalent all over the world that heart disease and stroke are the number one and number two causes of death in the world. This is according to the American Heart Association’s 2016 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update, a survey that has been conducted yearly since 1958.
This goes to show that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in the medical community. Every year, more than 800,000 die from cardiovascular disease in the U.S., and many of these deaths could have been prevented if proper precautions were taken earlier in these people’s lives. Unfortunately, although it’s too late for those that have already passed away, there are things that can be learned and used to help protect other people before it’s too late.
One of the biggest things that were learned in this study was that 795,000 people in the U.S. had a stroke last year. This is the biggest preventable cause of disability in the U.S., and by working on reducing the percentage of people that suffer from this, and by improving the immediate treatment of a stroke, the necessity for senior care of any sort will be reduced drastically. This is not the only event that leads to a need for long term care, but it is one of the easier things that can be corrected given today’s current technology and knowledge. It’s also important to note that a good portion of those that had a stroke–or any type of cardiovascular disease–were smokers. This is an easy thing to stop, especially given what we know about the effects of smoking today that were not known 40 years ago.
And while these are certainly grim statistics, they are also promising. Medical technology is getting better and better, and these numbers are going down. Better healthcare is contributing to this, too, especially when it comes to senior care. The elderly are far more susceptible to these health issues than younger folk are, and by taking better care of our older family members, we can decrease their risk of cardiovascular disease. Whether it’s by encouraging them to live healthier lifestyles, or by hiring a professional in-home caregiver to assist them and reduce physical stress at home, there are a lot of little things that can be done to assist our elderly family members to avoid this fate.
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the average lifespan in the world is increasing. People live longer today than they did even 20 years ago. This is all encouraging, and even though there are still many things that can be improved upon, the situation is getting better. It’s important now that progress is being made that we have a solid support structure in place so that our elderly loved ones are receiving high quality senior care as they live longer and more fulfilling lives.
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