Chronic disease
Chronic diseases are health conditions that usually persist for 3 to 4 months or more (months to years) and mostly get worse over time.
Chronic diseases are mostly non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and can limit daily life activities, over time they become the cause of illness, disability, and death.
- Here are some examples of chronic diseases:
- Cardiovascular diseases like- Cerebrovascular disease, Ischemic cardiomyopathy, Hypertension, and heart failure.
- Diabetic Mellitus (type-1, type-2, pre-diabetic, gestational diabetes)
- Cancer
- Chronic respiratory diseases like Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and Tuberculosis.
- Autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, and Rheumatic arthritis.
- Osteoarthritis
- Others like Alzheimer’s disease, HIV/AIDS, Migraine, obesity, Parkinson’s disease, and thyroid diseases.
Risk factors:
Risk factors may vary with old age, gender, poor nutrition, lifestyle, physical activity, and environment. Sometimes social factors like financial status, social status, and lack of education.
Some conditions may prevented by good nutrition or healthy meals, and behavioral changes, such as limiting alcohol intake, quitting smoking, and starting mild to moderate physical activity.
Prevention:
Most important in chronic disease is avoiding risk factors and better preventive care can improve chronic diseases because prevention is better than cure.
- Here are some preventive care:
- Quit smoking- stopping smoking decreases the risk of heart disease, lung disease, and type 2 diabetes.
- Limit alcohol intake- binge drinking of alcohol can lead to liver disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart stroke.
- Healthy nutrition- A balanced healthy nutrition can help to prevent heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.
- Increase physical exercise- Regular moderate exercise can prevent or delay chronic diseases.
- Regular check-ups and counseling are needed to prevent any illness.