Chronic condition

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Not to be confused with Chronic toxicity.

A chronic condition is a human health condition or disease that is persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects or a disease that comes with time.[1] The term chronic is usually applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three months.[1] Common chronic diseases include arthritis, asthma, cancer, COPD, diabetes and viral diseases such as hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS.

In medicine, the opposite of chronic is acute. A chronic course is further distinguished from a recurrent course; recurrent diseases relapse repeatedly, with periods of remission in between.

The non-communicable diseases are also usually lasting medical conditions but are separated by their non-infectious causes. In contrast, some chronic diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, are caused by transmissible infections.

Chronic diseases constitute a major cause of mortality and the World Health Organization (WHO) reports chronic non-communicable conditions to be by far the leading cause of mortality in the world, representing 35 million deaths in 2005 and over 60% of all deaths.[1]

Types

Examples of chronic diseases and health conditions include:

Risk factors

While risk vary with age and gender, most of the common chronic diseases in the US are caused by dietary, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors that are also responsible for the resulting mortality.[2] Therefore, these conditions might be prevented by behavioral changes, such as quitting smoking, adopting a healthy diet, and increasing physical activity. Social determinants are important risk factors for chronic diseases.[3] Social factors, e.g., socioeconomic status, education level, and race/ethnicity, are a major cause for the disparities observed in the care of chronic disease.[3] Lack of access and delay in receiving care result in worse outcomes for patients from minorities and underserved populations.[4] Those barriers to medical care complicate patients monitoring and continuity in treatment.

In the US, Minorities and low-income populations are less likely to access and receive preventive services necessary to detect conditions at an early stage.[5] In addition, overuse of antibiotic has recently been shown has been associated with chronic disease,[6] for example, chronic liver diseases.[7]

Prevention

A growing body of evidence supports that prevention is effective in reducing the effect of chronic conditions; in particular, early detection results in less severe outcomes. Clinical preventive services include screening for the existence of the disease or predisposition to its development, counseling and immunizations against infectious agents. Despite their effectiveness, the utilization of preventive services is typically lower than for regular medical services. In contrast to their apparent cost in time and money, the benefits of preventive services are not directly perceived by patient because their effects are on the long term or might be greater for society as a whole than at the individual level.[8]

Therefore, public health programs are important in educating the public, and promoting healthy lifestyles and awareness about chronic diseases. While those programs can benefit from funding at different levels (state, federal, private) their implementation is mostly in charge of local agencies and community-based organizations[9]

Studies have shown that public health programs are effective in reducing mortality rates associated to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, but the results are somewhat heterogeneous depending on the type of condition and the type of programs involved.[10] For example, results from different approaches in cancer prevention and screening depended highly on the type of cancer.[11] The rising number of patient with chronic diseases has renewed the interest in prevention and its potential role in helping control costs. A report from the Trust for America’s Health suggests that investing $10 per person annually in community-based programs of proven effectiveness and promoting healthy lifestyle (increase in physical activity, healthier diet and preventing tobacco use) could save more than $16 billion annually within 5 years [1].

In the European Union approximately 70% to 80% of health care budgets across the EU are spent on treating chronic diseases. There is a wealth of knowledge within EU Member States on effective and efficient ways to prevent and manage cardiovascular disease, stroke and type-2 diabetes. There is great potential to reduce the burden of chronic disease by making better use of this knowledge. JA-CHRODIS, a European collaboration across member states, has been designed to exploit this potential through identifying, validating, exchanging and disseminating good practice on chronic diseases.[12]

Epidemiology

United States

In the United States, nearly one in two Americans (133 million) has at least one chronic medical condition, with most subjects (58%) between the ages of 18 and 64.[13] The number is projected to increase by more than one percent per year by 2030, resulting in an estimated chronically ill population of 171 million.[13] The most common chronic conditions are high blood pressure, arthritis, respiratory diseases like emphysema, and high cholesterol.

According to research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic disease is also especially a concern in the elderly population in America. Chronic diseases like stroke, heart disease, and cancer were among the leading causes of death among Americans aged 65 or older in 2002, accounting for 61% of all deaths among this subset of the population.[14] While the majority of chronic conditions are found in individuals between the ages of 18 and 64, it is estimated that at least 80% of older Americans are currently living with some form of a chronic condition, with 50% of this population having two or more chronic conditions.[14] The two most common chronic conditions in the elderly are high blood pressure and arthritis, with diabetes, coronary heart disease, and cancer also being reported among the elder population.[15]

In examining the statistics of chronic disease among the living elderly, it is also important to make note of the statistics pertaining to fatalities as a result of chronic disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death from chronic disease for adults older than 65, followed by cancer, stroke, diabetes, chronic lower respiratory diseases, influenza and pneumonia, and, finally, Alzheimer’s disease.[14] Though the rates of chronic disease differ by race for those living with chronic illness, it is interesting to note that the statistics for leading causes of death among elderly are nearly identical across racial/ethnic groups.[14]

Chronic illnesses cause about 70% of deaths in the US and in 2002 chronic conditions (heart disease, cancers, stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, mental illness and kidney diseases) were 6 of the top ten causes of mortality in the general US population.[16] In the United States, 90% of seniors have at least one chronic disease, and 77% have two or more chronic conditions.[17]

Economic impact

United States

Chronic diseases are a major factor in the continuous growth of medical care spending.[18] Healthy People 2010 reported that more than 75% of the $2 trillion spent annually in US medical care are due to chronic conditions; spending are even higher in proportion for Medicare beneficiaries (aged 65 years and older).[5] Spending growth is driven in part by the greater prevalence of chronic illnesses, and the longer life expectancy of the population. Also improvement in treatments has significantly extended the life spans of patients with chronic diseases but results in additional costs over long period of time. A striking success is the development of combined antiviral therapies that led to remarkable improvement in survival rates and quality of life of HIV-infected patients.

In addition to direct costs in health care, chronic diseases are a significant burden to the economy, through limitations in daily activities, loss in productivity and loss of days of work. A particular concern is the rising rates of overweight and obesity in all segments of the US population.[5] Obesity itself is a medical condition and not a disease, but it constitutes a major risk factor for developing chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease and cancers. Obesity results in significant health care spending and indirect costs, as illustrated by a recent study from the Texas comptroller reporting that obesity alone cost Texas businesses an extra $9.5 billion in 2009, including more than $4 billion for health care, $5 billion for lost productivity and absenteeism, and $321 million for disability.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Danaei G. et al. “The Preventable Causes of Death In The United States: Comparative Risk Assessment of Dietary, Lifestyle, and Metabolic Risk Factors” “PLoS Medicine” / April 2009 / Vol 6 (4).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Braveman P et al. “Socioeconomic Disparities In Health In The United States: What The Patterns Tell Us” “American Journal of Public Health” / 2010 / Vol 100 (Suppl 1): S186-S196.
  4. ↑ Mead H et al “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in U.S. Health Care: A Chartbook” The Commonwealth Fund 2008.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Sondik EJ, Huang DT, Klein RJ and Satcher D “Progress Toward The Healthy People 2010 Goals And Objectives” “Ann Rev Public Health” 2010, Vol 31:271-281.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ .Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The majority of US health care and economic costs associated with medical conditions are for the costs of chronic diseases and conditions and associated health risk behaviors. Eighty-four percent of all health care spending in 2006 was for the 50% of the population who have one or more chronic medical conditions (CDC, 2014).
  8. ↑ Kenkel DS “Prevention” “Handbook Of Health Economics”
  9. ↑ Halverson PK et al., “Performing Public Health Functions: The Perceived Contribution of Public Health and Other Community Agencies.” “J Health Hum Serv Admin” / 1996 / Vol. 18(3): 288-303.
  10. ↑ Mays GP and Smith SA, "Evidence Links Increases In Public Health Spending To Declines in Preventable Deaths." Health Affairs / August 2011 / Volume 30:8 .
  11. ↑ Cutler DM “Are We Finally Winning The War on Cancer?” “J. Econ Perspect” / 2008 / Vol 22:3-2.
  12. ↑ http://ec.europa.eu/health/major_chronic_diseases/docs/reflection_process_cd_en.pdf
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation & Partnership for Solutions. "Chronic Conditions: Making the Case for Ongoing Care." Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (September 2004 Update).
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 name=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."The state of aging and health in america 2007"
  15. ↑ name=ParentGiving."Common Chronic Conditions and Aging at Hom"
  16. ↑ National Center for Health Statistics. “ Health, United States” / 2004.
  17. ↑ Gerard Anderson, "The Growing Burden of Chronic Disease in American." Public Health Reports / May–June 2004 / Volume 119.
  18. ↑ Roehrig C, Miller G, Lake C and Bryant J “National Health Spending By Medical Condition, 1996–2005” “Health Affairs”, February 2009, w358-376.
  19. ↑ Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts “Gaining Costs, Losing Time: The Obesity Crisis in Texas”. Special Report, Austin, Texas, February 2011, Publication# 96-1360.

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