How to write a Case Study Application on cardiovascular diseases

How to write a Case Study Application on cardiovascular diseases

Introduction

The paper focuses on a case study for cardiovascular diseases and some of the risk factors that are associated. Maria is a lady who is actively involved in physical activity as she runs and pilates twice a week. She is always on a good diet which is low in cholesterol as she has been a vegetarian for more than 15yrs. She used to be a smoker for approximately four years but she later on quit. Her body weight is favourable as the BMI is low due to her well regulated diet. However, for her career, she is always stressed up as she works as an accountant, which is physically less involving but mentally exhausting. She resides within the city where she at a risk of pollutant exposure. Additionally, she is predisposed to cardiovascular disease (CVD) due to her family history as revealed by the pedigree done. Health promotion and prevention activities are developed based upon the risk factors (Merill 2017). She also had a full genome scan which identified some presence of genes associated with CVD. Even with all the tests, she has not visited the healthcare facility to determine the actual nature of the risk. Hence, no further tests which were conducted to ascertain the nature of predisposition.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD)

            Cardiovascular diseases are a set of co morbid conditions that are associated with the heart defects. Such conditions mainly target the cardiovascular system. They may include; heart failure, stroke, hypertension, heart arrhythmia, coronary artery disease, artherosclerosis, and peripheral artery disease. Cardiovascular diseases are very predominant and affect a very large population globally. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of in the world, and account for 48% of the deaths from non-communicable diseases (Svensson et al.,2017). These illnesses are mainly caused by two main factors; they can be either modifiable or non modifiable risk factors. Examples of modifiable risk factors include; exercise, weight, diet, sleep, non-smoking habits, poor lifestyle choices, and environmental factors such as pollutants. Some of the non-modifiable risk factors include; family history of chronic condition, genetical makeup, gender, and patient’s age. The factors are divided based on the level of control that the patient may have in changing them. Modifiable factors are those that the patient can decide to change based on their own particular choice. However, the non-modifiable factors are those that are determined by nature and no individual has the ability to change them. Thus, use of the terms modifiable and non-modifiable in the determination. There are some common conditions that predispose the patients to CVD. They include; high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. Multi-factorial disease contributing to CVD includes obesity and metabolic syndrome (Tian & Meng 2019). Additionally, the male sex is more at risk and for those individuals who are minimally involved in physical activities are also at risk. Hence, exercising and physical activity is one of the best approaches for managing cardiovascular diseases.

Genetic risk factor

Genetic predisposition is one of the main causes of CVD. There are various genomes that are linked to the illness. Thus, with the makeup one is likely to develop conditions such as myocardial infarctions which result toe predisposition of plague materials along the lumen of the coronary arteries thus leading to ischemia and angina. Genetic makeup is also greatly related to heredity which is also a risk factor for CVD. Thus, it is very important to understand to the genetic components of the patients at risk through genome studies and laboratory tests. Existing knowledge of the existing components affecting the risk of CAD is largely based on results from genome-wide association studies (Guo et al.,2017). Genetic factors are major contributing factors to developing CVD. It is important for anyone predisposed to practice healthy behaviors and lifestyle to prevent becoming affected.

Prevention

            Primary prevention involves the creation of awareness and management of environmental factors to prevent spread of disease. Through primary prevention, cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by the management of modifiable risk factors such as behaviours and lifestyle, management of diet, and exercising to manage the activity tolerance. Thus, with regular management of the risk factors, one can reduce the chance of becoming affected by CVD. However, the main challenge of primary prevention for the CVD is that it only takes care of the modifiable risk factors and not the non modifiable ones such as genetic makeup and heredity. The one drawback of primary prevention is that it only focuses on modifiable factors (Karunathilake et al.,2018). Thus, secondary prevention helps manage the non-modifiable risk factors through early detection and screening. Through that, one is able to manage the risk and chances of becoming affected. The best way to manage CVD is through prevention as it promotes the quality of life as compared to tertiary management. Additionally, early detection involves a thorough knowledge and understanding of the patient’s history.

Role preparation

            It is the role of the advance practice nurse to identify the levels of predisposition for every patient to CVD. The best approach to that is ensuring there is a comprehensive history that helps determine and identify the level of risk for any patient. A good history helps determine if a person may become affected due to heredity or environmental exposure. Family health histories are important to gather to determine the degree of risk to 3 generations of family member (Merill 2017).  Additionally, the advancement in the medical field helps determine the genome types for all individuals thus, it is easy to determine those who are predisposed.

 

References

Guo, Y., Wang, F., Li, L., Gao, H., Arckacki, S., Wang, I. Z., . . . Wang, Q. K. (2017). Genome-wide linkage analysis of large multiple multigenerational families identifies novel genetic loci for coronary artery disease. Scientific Reports (Nature Publisher Group), 7, 1-11. DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-05381-2

            Karunathilake, S. P., & Gamage, U. G. (2018). Secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases and application of technology for early diagnosis.BioMed Research International,  9(1), 1-10. DOI:10.1155/2018/5767864

Svensson, T., Kitlinski, M., Engström, G., & Melander, O. (2017). A genetic risk score for CAD, psychological stress, and their interaction as predictors of CAD, fatal MI, non-fatal MI and cardiovascular death. PLoS One, 12(4), 1-17.  DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0176029

Tian, D., & Meng, J. (2019). Exercise for prevention and relief of cardiovascular disease: Prognoses, mechanisms, and approaches. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 11(1), 1-12.   DOI:10.1155/2019/3756750

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