Introduction/Background

Diseases Currently on the rise in the United States

Weltee Wolo

Rasmussen College

Author Note

This paper is being submitted on October 16,

2017 Nichole Crais’s

Epidemiology H430/HSC4500 course

Three diseases that are currently on the rise in the United States include heart disease, cancer, and obesity. These three diseases are currently on the rise because the number of people dying from such diseases is on the rise. The first one is heart disease. Heart disease describes a wide range of conditions that affect the heart of the human body. Conditions that fall under the umbrella of heart disease include blood vessels like heart defects, heart rhythm challenges, and coronary artery disease (Herrmann, Lerman, Sandhu, Villarraga, Mulvagh, & Kohli, 2014). In most cases, heart disease is interchangeably used with cardiovascular disease which refers to conditions involving blocked or narrowed blood vessels that may lead to chest pain, heart attack, and in some cases stroke. Heart disease is one of the most dangerous diseases since it accounts for about 46 percent of deaths in the United States.

Cancer is another disease currently on the rise in the country. Cases of different forms of cancer are worrying. Last year alone, an estimated population of 1,685, 210 new cancer cases were diagnosed, and more than 500,000 people die almost annually from the disease, as was the case last year. The most common types of cancer which have been on the rise include lung and bronchus cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, leukemia, and melanoma. Cancer cases are on the rise largely because of the changing lifestyles, what people are eating (Herrmann, Lerman, Sandhu, Villarraga, Mulvagh, & Kohli, 2014). Lack of physical exercise, exposure to carcinogens, and lifestyle habits such as smoking are some of the factors which are causing the disease.

Obesity is the third concern. Obesity is a concern both for children and adults. In fact, cases of childhood obesity are on the increases, which begs the question, what could be happening? According to statistics, more than 30 percent of adults in the United States are obese, which increases the risk of developing chronic diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2014). Obesity is an interesting topic for study because of the statistics around it, and the fact that it is largely caused by lifestyle choices which include physical exercise and nutrition.

References.

Herrmann, J., Lerman, A., Sandhu, N. P., Villarraga, H. R., Mulvagh, S. L., & Kohli, M. (2014, September). Evaluation and management of patients with heart disease and cancer: cardio-oncology. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 89, No. 9, pp. 1287-1306). Elsevier.

Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2014). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. Jama, 311(8), 806-814.