Public Health Community Trends- Nicole Rudd

Nicole Rudd

Health 100

3/26/12

            Born and raised in Salt Lake City and have always had an interest in the elderly.  I decided to research what the top five causes of death are at my grandfather’s assisted living center.  I talked to my Grandpa’s nurse Jane Young.  As I chatted with her, these are the top 5 causes of most occurring chronic disease deaths for the elderly.

1.     Heart Disease- First of all, heart disease is the leading cause of death in people over 60 years of age.  This includes conditions such as heart failure, heart attack and heart arrhythmia that can cause heart to beat ineffectively and impair circulation.  Heart disease can be associated with or caused by many different things.  A few are, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, bad diet and lack of exercise.  Also heart problems can relate to genetics.

2.     Cancer- Cancer was the second leading cause of death that she told me about.  Many seniors die of cancer annually.  This includes all cancers, breast cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer, etc.  It also includes malignant blood and bone marrow diseases that cause leukemia.  Some cancers occur more in the elderly, the thought for that isn’t really sure.  The problem with the elderly, sometimes when they are diagnosed with cancers, they are harder to treat because of health conditions that they already have.  This could prohibit them from the treatment that a younger, healthier person would go through.

3.     Cerebrovascular Disease- This category includes what is more commonly understood as, stroke.  Strokes can be caused by a couple different things.  These things include, blood clots or blockage that cuts of the blood flow to part of the brain.  In both cases there is damage of the brain that occurs.  These damages can cause paralysis, speech disorders, swallowing problems and immobility.  The elderly  with high blood pressure and diabetes are at a higher risk of stroke.

4.     COPD- Chronic obstructive lung disease decreases the lungs ability to exchange CO2 for oxygen.  As this disease progresses, the person has to work harder to breath and can often feel like they are suffocating.  Also it is common for the elderly to develop bad coughs, not be as mobile because they can’t breath as well when being more active, etc.  COPD can be related with a lifetime of smoking or it can also be related to environmental factors.  Like in salt lake, we have poor air quality and many of the old people develop COPD because of it.

5.     Pneumonia- This is more common during the winter months and flu season.  Seniors at a much higher risk of getting pneumonias because their immune system is much worse.  More at risk seniors are seniors that previously have diabetes, heart disease, and respiratory conditions.  Flu and pneumonia shots are recommended for the seniors in the home.  Also a common way of death is when seniors have a bad fall, it usually ends in pneumonia which leads to death.