The Truth About Chronic Disease In The USA
Chronic disease is now the number one cause of death, disability and rising health care costs across the States according to the Partnership To Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), fueled in no small part by the nation’s obesity crisis. The latest figures available from the American Heart Association reveal 154.7 million Americans over the age of 20 are overweight or obese.
Furthermore, childhood chronic diseases have almost quadrupled since 1960 and are expected to rise. If that’s not enough, if the advancement of chronic illnesses continues unimpeded, today’s generation of children will be the first with a lower life expectancy than their parents.
The Impact On Health Care
Health care costs currently associated with chronic disease amounted to an astonishing $2.6 trillion dollars in 2012. According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 75% of the dollars spent on health care are for the treatment of chronic conditions. In contrast, less than 5% is spent on efforts to educate people into a healthier lifestyle or prevent chronic illnesses.
While the health care system is equipped to deal with short-term illnesses, it is not equipped to deal with the crisis in chronic illness. The impact on health care providers is unavoidable; latest projections suggest that Medicare will become insolvent by 2026 if current trends remain unchanged.
The Causes
The impact of these stark figures is all the more concerning considering that a change in behavior could significantly improve both the quality of life and longevity of so many Americans. Approximately 80% of cardiovascular disease, strokes and Type 2 diabetes, together with over 40% of all cancers could be prevented through changes in lifestyle and behavior.
The CDC cites the following four behaviors that are not only modifiable but responsible for many chronic diseases:
• lack of physical activity
• poor nutrition
• smoking
• excessive alcohol intake
What Can Be Done?
In 2009, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Commission To Build A Healthier America recommended ten principal actions to help prevent the continued rise of chronic disease, including:
• The funding and design of food stamps programs to ensure the availability of nutritious food to families, including the provision of healthy food only in schools.
• The involvement of all children in daily physical activity.
• The elimination of smoking.
• The provision of high quality early development support in child care and education, especially for children living in low income families.
The commission met again in July 2013 to identify further actions in two key areas – healthy communities and childhood development.
Working Together
It is apparent from the recommendations made by RWJF that a solution to the chronic disease crisis cannot be sought in isolation.
Addressing the American obesity epidemic in July 2013, Kenneth Thorpe, PhD, Chairman of PFCD recommended ‘fostering an environment supportive of healthy practices and medically necessary treatment, together with addressing obesity’. This will require ‘strong collaboration across government, private organizations and individuals to advance effective solutions’.
CDC also believes that health providers such as Medicare can do more to combat the inherent issues associated with chronic disease, such as offering access to effective weight management programs. This is in addition to the intense behavioral therapy programs already available.
With current projections suggesting obesity rates may rise to 44% across the US by 2030, it is clear that the battle for the health of the United States is only just beginning.
Sources
Partnership To Fight Chronic Disease – http://www.fightchronicdisease.org/
Centers For Disease Control and Prevention – http://www.cdc.gov/
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – http://www.rwjf.org
The American Heart Association – http://www.heart.org