Prevention And Health Promotion in Men Older than 40 years

Posted on November 1, 2008
Filed Under Geriatry |

Currently in our country, and generally in the western world, the causes of death are important in terms of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, including those affecting the heart and brain. Among the three constitute approximately 50% of all annual deaths, ie, one in two people die because of any of them.

Butts
It has been shown repeatedly that the abandonment of snuff is a huge health benefit.

Among boys the most frequent cancer types, causes of death are the trachea, bronchus and lung first, followed by cancer of the stomach and prostate.

Today, with the knowledge we have we can say without fear of mistakes that many of these deaths could be avoided if measures were put in place health promotion and prevention of cardiovascular disease, who have been effective.

In man the primary cause of cancer death in our country is the cancer of the bronchus and lung, with a mortality of 54 people per 100,000 inhabitants. One of the measures to be taken to drastically reduce mortality from lung cancer is to quit. It has been shown repeatedly that the abandonment of snuff is a huge benefit.

Preventive Actions
At present the implementation of systematic preventive activities in the field of Primary Health Care is based on the realization of a periodic health examination. This is the implementation of various measures of health promotion and disease prevention with the appropriate intervals to the age and gender of those targeted.

Traditionally, and until well into the decade of the 70s, preventive examinations, also called screenings were performed with a fixed frequency, usually annually. As the epidemiological and clinical studies provide more accurate data about the natural history of diseases were known periods of vulnerability (susceptibility to suffer from a disease) and was chosen by conducting periodic health examinations. In some cases the application of a preventive measure may be indicated on an annual basis, and others can be performed with longer intervals. Sometimes, however, the variables age and sex alone can not justify taking a preventive measure, it is necessary to identify groups that share a number of features that increase the likelihood of suffering a certain disease. It appears this way the concept of risk.

High-risk groups can be determined for reasons as diverse as genetic determinants, the presence of preexisting diseases, personal habits or behavior, or simply belonging to a population with a high incidence of the disease.

This article will address the following activities to promote health and prevent disease that may benefit men older than 40 years:
* Detection of smoking and tips for quitting.
* Screening for hypertension or high blood pressure.
* Screening for hypercholesterolemia or high cholesterol in the blood.
* Other activities.

Smoking
It is estimated that in Spain smokes about one in three people, and among the population over 40 years smoke one of every two people. We also know people who smoke more upper middle class (around 45%) and those living in large cities.

Today there is no question that smoking is the most common preventable cause of premature death in developed countries. In Spain killed about 40,000 people each year from diseases directly related to snuff, which include coronary artery disease or blockage of coronary arteries, which are the water the heart muscle, lung cancer, chronic obstructive disease of the bronchi and blood vessel disease of the brain.

It has been found that the level of awareness of population about the harmful effects of snuff is low. Therefore the physician must undertake the following tasks with respect to their patients:
* The questioning of all their patients about their smoking
* Advise all smokers to stop smoking
* Help those who want to quit getting it
* Agree on follow-up visits.

Quitting smoking is therefore a major focus of prevention of cardiovascular diseases, causes, as mentioned, a large number of deaths in Spain.

Screening for hypertension or high blood pressure
Hypertension is defined as the sustained elevation of blood pressure figures above those considered normal and which, at this time because the evidence accumulated by numerous scientific studies over recent years has been set at 140/90 mmHg (or millimeters of mercury).

Know for certain that this disease is a risk factor of primary importance for the heart and blood vessels. Currently one in three adults has the disease.

The benefits of treatment have been clearly established and proven in numerous medical studies. At present it is recommended to measure and record blood pressure of blood every two years in men older than 40 years. In cases where blood pressure is high in a number of records maintained, often requiring medical treatment and long term.

Hypercholesterolemia or high cholesterol in the blood
Several studies have shown that the numbers of cholesterol in the blood are associated with disease and death caused by heart problems and blood vessels. The risk of suffering from these health problems increases as the numbers rise in blood cholesterol, so they pose a predictor of any advertiser or deaths in men 40 to 60 years. In this group of people are much more frequent classic cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, consumption of snuff and sedentary or lack of exercise, among others.

At present the treatment of hypercholesterolemia in primary prevention, ie before the disease requires classifying patients according to individual risk assessment and medications only deal with cases where more likely to benefits outweigh the risks.

That changed when we talk about secondary prevention, ie when the patient has the disease in its early stages, not yet clearly apparent. In these cases, medications for treating high cholesterol in the blood have proved their usefulness in various medical studies.

It is generally recommended for men aged between 35 and 40 years and up to 65 years, a determination of total cholesterol in the blood every 5 years and in a timely manner, ie, taking advantage of other reasons for physician.

Talk about high levels of cholesterol in the blood when the patient presents a higher level of 250 mg / dl; talk of cholesterol in the high ceiling with figures of cholesterol between 200 and 250 mg / dl, and those figures desirable cholesterol below 200 mg / dl.

When a patient has already had a cardiovascular disease such as angina pectoris, myocardial infarction or a stroke, the diagnosis of hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol) is established as a fraction of cholesterol known as LDL (acronym in English of the call low density lipoprotein or low density lipoprotein). We speak in such cases where the amount of cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (or “bad” cholesterol) is greater than 130 mg / dl, cholesterol in the high limit when the LDL-cholesterol is between 100 and 130 mg / dl, and desirable when cholesterol is below 100 mg / dl.

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