Chronic Disease

Question 1

What are the 3 most prevalent, costly and preventable chronic diseases?

Answer 1

CV disease

cancer

diabetes

Question 2

Chronic disease causes what percentage of all deaths in the US?

Answer 2

70%

Question 3

What percentage of americans have a chronic condition?

Answer 3

almost half

Question 4

People with chronic conditions account for what percent of all health care spending?

Answer 4

84%

Question 5

What type of countries have the worst issues with chronic disease deaths?

Answer 5

low and middle income countries - not high income countries as you’d expect

Question 6

Describe the new guidelines released by the ACC/AHA.

Answer 6

1. Don’t prescribe statins basedon cholesterol levels alone
2. you don’t have ot monitor your cholesterol once you start taking meds - there is no target LDL level
3. Don’t add other cholesterol lowering drugs to statins because they don’t reduce risk of heart attacks or strokes
4. Don’t prescribe if the 10-yr risk of a heart attack or stroke is less than 7.5 percent on the risk calculator

Question 7

Why is there controversy over the risk calculator?

Answer 7

1. it overpredicts risk by 75-100%
2. the data is old, and fewer people ahve ASCVD now, plus those that do are older
3. women are nearly as susceptible as men now and the data don’t reflect that
4. they use a mathematical linear model, but risk is often exponential, not linear

Question 8

What is the single most preventable cause of diease and death in the US?

Answer 8

smoking

Question 9

Describe the social network dynamics of smoking.

Answer 9

smoking behavior can spread thorugh close and distant social ties

groups of people often stop smoking in concert

thus, smokers are increasingly marginalized in society because those that are still smoking are more likely to be less socially connected - otherwise they would have quit