Health Concerns
Health Concerns
High blood pressure is becoming a significant health challenge around the globe. Studies have indicated an increase in blood pressure cases around the world. Adults are the worst-hit, especially the women (Zhou et al., 2017). High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a condition in which the force of the blood in the arteries is very high. Hypertension is a dangerous condition since it disrupts the usual living styles of a patient, and it may also cause other deadly diseases like heart problems. High blood pressure is mostly determined by the quantity of blood that you’re heart pumps and the level of resistance in the blood arteries. When the heart pumps a lot of blood into narrow arteries, the highways’ strength will be high, which causes high blood pressure.
As the world cases of hypertension increase worldwide, one of the worst-hit groups by high blood pressure is African Americans. Research shows that 3 out of 4 African Americans are likely to have this condition by the time they get to 55years (NHLBI, 2018). The ratio of three is to four is high. Several factors make African Americans more predisposed to hypertension than other groups of people in America. These factors include poverty, diet, lack of exercise, lifestyle choices, and people’s believes. This paper focuses on the case of hypertension among African Americans.
Does the use of lifestyle modification behaviors among African Americans living in cities improve blood pressure control compared to using medication to treat hypertension within one year of medication initiation?
Population: African Americans in cities
Intervention: Changing lifestyle behaviors
Comparison: Taking hypertension medication
Outcome: Reduced cases of hypertension
Time: One year
Cultural Characteristics Promoting Hypertension
Dietary Intake
One of the suspected reasons why African Americans are more exposed to high blood pressure is their diet. Research conducted in previous years has shown that some dietary habits can increase the risks of hypertension, while others reduce these risks (Muntner et al. 2017). African Americans tend to eat foods that increase their chances of contracting hypertension. These foods are like fast foods that are high in cholesterol and fats. On the other hand, white Americans have the habit of eating healthier diets that reduces their high blood pressure. The culture of black Americans eating fast foods exposes them to cardiovascular diseases, which is why most black Americans contract high blood pressure. According to the Purnell model, many black Americans work many shifts, too, so that they can meet their daily needs. This tight work schedule leaves them with little time to get a proper diet, and they end up going for fast foods.
Physical Activity
Regular body exercises are vital in promoting the right blood pressure in the body. A lack of fair practices causes most of the cardiovascular issues. When one engages in physical exercises, the fat that could accumulate in the body, causing the blood vessels to become narrow, is melted. Physical activities allow the blood to flow well in the body and to all the body parts. The challenge with black Americans is that they do not engage in frequent body exercises. Most of them have to work many shifts at their workplaces, leaving them with little or no time for physical activities. A sedentary lifestyle is also another aspect of these people’s culture. They have adopted passive hobbies and passive ways of utilizing leisure time, which hinders them from performing physical exercises. An example of passive hobbies is like playing video games (Muntner et al. 2017).
Sleep Patterns
Most African American citizens do not receive the required quality of sleep. Research suggests that lack of quality sleep is likely to cause high blood pressure and dipping (Muntner et al. 2017). Sleep patterns identify like light sleep and little rapid eye movement sleep. Black Americans often do not get quality sleep due to various factors in their lifestyles. The most common factor among them all is the poverty levels among this community. Many people have to work extra hours at work so that they can meet their daily needs. Working hours reduce the sleep hours, resulting in a lack of quality sleep as recommended by health experts. The other challenge is the stress that these people face. Stress can disrupt sleep and quality of sleep. People need to get enough and quality sleep to avoid the numerous consequences of the lack of enough sleep.
Psychosocial Factors
African Americans are highly exposed to social stressors. Stress is another massive contributor to the burden. The living conditions of many black Americans are stressful. The pressure comes from several psychosocial factors like poverty and discrimination. The strain has often been identified as one of the major causes of hypertension. These stressful psychosocial factors increase the chances for black people in America to have hypertension, which is not the case for the whites. These psychosocial factors can be reduced through acute interventions by not only an individual but also the government.
Environmental Exposures
Environmental toxins have been identified to also play a role in increasing the risks of hypertension contraction. These risk factors are like lead. Most African Americans live in environments that expose them to lead and other environmental pollutants that expose them to high blood pressure. Most African American families live in neighborhoods that regularly use lead-based paints, increasing their chances of getting hypertension. Other African American Families are exposed to toxins through air pollution and in the water that they consume. Environmental factors also increase the risk factor for blacks in the US to contract high blood pressure.
Regional and National Evidence of Hypertension a Health Crisis
High blood pressure is a common health hazard in America and all over the world. This condition is increasing globally and causing deaths to many people. The world health organization (WHO) provides an approximate of 1.13 Billion people living with this condition globally. The number is exceptionally high, and it indicates that hypertension is a serious global challenge. WHO (2019) also shows that more men than women have hypertension around the world. One man out of four is likely to have the condition while one woman out of five women has hypertension. WHO (2019) has also indicated that out of the people who have hypertension, only a few numbers of them are under control. That suggests that most people living with hypertension do not receive the necessary treatment and care from health providers.
According to the American heart association, the cases of deaths from high blood pressure in America increased by 11% between the year 2005 and the year 2015. AHA (2018) also says that more than 100 Americans have high blood pressure. The significant increase in percentage between 2005 and 2015 is quite high. The high number of Americans dying from high blood pressure also indicates that this condition is severe in America and requires more attention. The evidence about hypertension in America continues to increase, and that something needs to be done to reduce the cases of hypertension in America.
Hypertension among African Americans
African Americans have more chances of having hypertension when compared to other groups of people in America. According to a study conducted in Rutgers (2019) University, the number of hypertension cases among African American citizens living in inner cities is five times higher than the national average. This paper indicates that African Americans are the worst affected group by hypertension in America. Another study also revealed that three out of four African Americans are likely to suffer from hypertension before they hit the age of fifty-five (NHLBI, 2018). These numbers are high, and they are supported by different reasons why African Americans are so much prone to suffering from high blood pressures. Most of these reasons why this group is so much likely to contracting hypertension are because of the group’s culture and living standards.
Strategies of Curbing Hypertension among African Americans
Stress Reduction
One of the strategies that can help reduce hypertension among the black community in America is reducing stress. Many African Americans go through stressing episodes caused by many factors like rejection, poverty, and unemployment. Reducing stress could help to reduce the cases of hypertension by a large percentage. The first step would be to identify all the factors causing stress among these people. These factors should be considered at the workplace, socially, and at the individual level (Mihalj et al., 2016).
Reducing stress for Black Americans can be a responsibility for both individual people and the government. The government can help by identifying key stressors for black people and eliminating them. These stressors are like low wages and unemployment. The government should regulate the minimum payments and ensure that all employees, even in the private sector, are well paid, and their interests meet. The other way the government can reduce stress for these people is by increasing employment opportunities for them. The government can also play a significant role in ensuring that discrimination for African Americans ends. At the individual level, African Americans should seek personal interventions to reduce stress like counseling and therapy. The government can also provide free access to psychological treatment for stress reduction. Reducing stress can help to reduce the cases of hypertension among African Americans in the next year.
Increasing Hypertension Awareness
The other way of reducing hypertension cases among African Americans is by teaching them about hypertension and how to avoid and maintain it. Mass education is always an effective way of dealing with a problem, and completing the challenge is through mass education. Through mass education, black Americans can be taught about the various forms of avoiding hypertension. These methods, according to WHO is: like reducing salt intake, eating more fruits and vegetables, eating a healthy and balanced diet, avoiding the use of alcohol and tobacco, and avoiding consumption of foods that are high in fats and calories (2019). Equipping the public with this kind of information will help them adopt healthier living conditions to reduce their chances of hypertension.
The other information that is necessary for African Americans is the importance of regular hypertension checkups. Hypertension has no visible signs and symptoms, and this makes it a silent killer. Most of the people suffering from hypertension may take long before hypertension is discovered. Therefore, it is essential to educate the masses, especially African Americans who have high hypertension risks, to get tested regularly. Regular checkups are necessary since they will help people who get hypertension to start early treatment and avoid sudden deaths from hypertension. The other essential information that African Americans need to be taught about hypertension is how to manage it. Educating the masses about the advantages of regular hypertension checkups and managing the situation will help the community avoid the disease and manage the disease. This information can also help to reduce the death rates caused by hypertension.
Health experts should conduct health education. The different ways of doing health education to masses can be performed through means such as conferences, seminars, training at health clinics, use of posters and billboards, and use of mass media like television and radio podcasts. These training programs should follow all the teaching procedures to achieve the desired results, reducing hypertension among black Americans (Scott, Caldwell, and Schuwirth, 2015). The training program can be funded by the government, together with the World Health Organization. Educating African Americans about Hypertension can play a huge role in minimizing hypertension in this community in the next year.
Creating a Better Environment
Reducing environmental hazards is another strategy that can help in lowering risks among African Americans. Environmental pollution with lead and other substances has been identified as a significant reason hypertension has increased among African Americans. It is the government and non- governmental organizations’ role to ensure that the environment is clean and free from harmful substances. If environmental factors can be controlled, the cases of hypertension can reduce significantly.
Together with non-governmental organizations, the government can achieve environmental control by tightening the policies about environmental pollution. These policies are the ones that aim at reducing industrial pollution into the air and water. The government should ensure that the environment is safe from pollutants. These policies should also regulate human action even at individual levels that expose other people to the risk of consuming harmful substances. The government should also conduct regular checkups to test the water consumed by the people to determine whether it is safe. Environmental pollution can be stopped to save the African Americans from the increased rates of hypertension in the next year.
Improved Lifestyle
The African American community ought to have a better lifestyle. The living condition of these people plays a huge role in increasing the risks of contracting hypertension. Most of these African American families suffer from poverty. The government and non-governmental organizations can do something to elevate the living conditions for the people. One of the proposed efforts is to increase the minimum wages. Most Black Americans are minimum wage workers. If the minimum wage is increased, these people will have more money to meet their daily needs, and therefore they will be exposed to less stress and less psychosocial factors. The other solution is to offer these people better healthcare, better diet, better insurances, and more job opportunities. Elevating the living standards for African Americans can play a massive role in eliminating their risks of contracting hypertension in one year.
National Health Policies
The healthy people project aims at providing a roadmap for the next ten years. This road map is supposed to safeguard people’s health and improve it. The proposed solution to hypertension fits in well with the healthy people’s project for the year 2020. This project aims to advocate and implement a better diet and eating habits, incorporated in the proposed solution for hypertension in this paper. In the recommendations here, it is recommended that the government create a better environment for African Americans through tightening policies. This proposed solution fits in well with the whole people project, which advocates for environmental improvement. The proposed health solutions advocates for educational health among African Americans, which fits in with healthy people project that advocates for proper health education and communication.
Conclusion
Hypertension is a health hazard affecting many African Americans. The contraction and risk of hypertension among this group of people increase daily. Many factors expose African Americans to hypertension. These factors are like genetics, living conditions like diet, exercise, stress, and environmental factors. These factors have elevated the cases of hypertension to this community affecting mostly the adults and primarily men. New interventions are other than treating those who have hypertension need to be put in place. Other interventions involve preventive measures. These measures include stress reduction, health education, and environmental conservation to remove the harmful substances in the environment. These solutions are in line with the healthy people project. Improving the environment, health education, and reducing stress is part of Healthy People 2020. Hypertension among African Americans needs to be reduced by taking the proposed action, and in two years, the rates can reduce drastically.
Reference
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Mihaly, M., Tadzic, R., Vcev, A., Rucevic, S., & Drenjancevic, I. (2016). Blood pressure reduction is associated with changes in oxidative stress and endothelial activation in hypertension, regardless of antihypertensive therapy. Kidney and Blood Pressure Research, 41(6), 721-735.
NHLBI. (2018, July 11). Most African Americans have high blood pressure before age 55. [Blog post] Retrieved from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2018/most-african-americans-have-high-blood-pressure-age-55
Muntner, P., Abdalla, M., Correa, A., Griswold, M., Hall, J. E., Jones, D. W., … & Tucker, K. L. (2017). Hypertension in Blacks: unanswered questions and future directions for the JHS (Jackson Heart Study). Hypertension, 69(5), 761-769.
Rutgers University. (2019, January 30). Extremely high blood pressure in African-Americans is five times the national average. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 7, 2020, from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190130133117.htm
Scott, K., Caldwell, P., & Schuwirth, L. (2015). Ten steps to conducting health professional education research. The clinical teacher, 12(4), 272-276.
WHO. (2019, September 13). Hypertension [Blog post] Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hypertension
Zhou, B., Bentham, J., Di Cesare, M., Bixby, H., Danaei, G., Cowan, M. J., … & Taddei, C. (2017). Worldwide trends in blood pressure from 1975 to 2015: a pooled analysis of 1479 population-based measurement studies with 19· 1 million participants. The Lancet, 389(10064), 37-55.