Incidence rates of obesity are rising globally, with tremendous impacts to the cost and nature of healthcare intervention. As measured as body mass index (BMI) of 25 or over, being overweight affects as many as 67% of all American adults, while up to 40% can be classified as obese with a BMI of 30 or more. About 5% of Americans are classified as morbidly obese with a BMI of 40 or more. Obesity affects persons from all demographic groups, and has been on the rise in all demographic groups, even though some groups have higher rates of obesity than others. As many as 10% of all children worldwide are either obese or overweight. Being overweight and being obese are associated with a number of health conditions including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Moreover, obesity may cause psychological and social issues ranging from depression and anxiety to stigma and prejudice, with resulting problems with employment or socioeconomic status.
Although BMI is a useful, inexpensive, and relatively reliable means of measuring prevalence and rates of obesity, it is not the most accurate measure due to the fact that many healthy muscular people may have high BMI scores. Other tools that may be used to measure obesity include ratios between waist and hip measurements.
There is no one cause of obesity. Rather, causes can be related to genetics, environmental conditions, and psychological disorders. The manifestation of the condition is excess fat stores in the body. Nutrition and physical activity are both factors that are linked to weight and obesity. Some research suggests that triggers for obesity may begin in utero, as the mother's food intake can affect the baby's metabolism. Environmental factors are certainly causal for many cases of obesity, with a preponderance of processed, high fat, and high caloric foods available at low prices in the United States and elsewhere obesity is a problem....
Healthcare Economics Overall Healthcare And Economics Healthcare economics: Current challenges from a nursing perspective Although the subject of healthcare economics has been hotly-debated, on one issue there is widespread agreement: the aging of the population will substantively increase the demand for healthcare in the near and far future. As the population worldwide is aging and living longer, the need for essential services over a longer lifespan will generate more costs for an already-beleaguered
Healthcare Reform Revised We know that the burden of diseases is increasing all over the world. The percentage of people suffering from diabetes, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases has considerably increased in the last decade. It is noteworthy here that the importance of preventive care now comes at par with the importance of curative care. Considering the prevalence of diseases and the health status of the American population, President Obama introduced a
Health Care Economics Medical Care is never free, although the individual may pay nothing? Medical Care is both a commodity and a service. The process of consuming medical care has a cost, even if the after insurance price is zero to the consumer. For instance, there are hard costs that include the buildings, equipment and supplies that house the medical care or office. There are the wages that are paid for the
(Worcestershire Diabetes: a New model of care Stakeholder event, 2007) The continuum of care for the diabetic patient is shown in the following illustration labeled Figure 1. Diabetes: Continuum of Care Source: Worcestershire Diabetes: a New model of care Stakeholder event (2007) The continuum of care for diabetes begins at the moment that the individual is found to have diabetes and continues across the individual's health care providers and across the varying stages
Health Care Reform Federal Deficit The American Health Care Crisis and the Federal Deficit The United States spends more than any other country on medical care. In 2006, U.S. health care spending was $2.1 trillion, or 16% of our gross domestic product. At the same time, more than 45 million Americans lack health insurance and our health outcomes (life expectancy, infant mortality, and mortality amenable to health care) are mediocre compared with
In fact Congress should pass a bill that gives that prescription drug benefit to Medicare patients. QUESTION NINE: In the United States, healthcare is so expensive that over 45 million people are without health insurance. It is a broken system, leaving out many people, especially children. Recently the executive branch vetoed a bill that would have provided health insurance to millions of middle and low-income children, indicating a lack of
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