Southern New Hampshire University
HCM 30233
8I�U.S. Health Care System: Present Statethe United States can be explained largely in terms of health behaviors that relate to them. Consider the 10 leading causes of death, as of 2014, as characterized by diagnosed disease or condition: diseases of heart, malignant neoplasms (cancer), chronic lower respiratory diseases, unintent
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8I�U.S. Health Care System: Present Statethe United States can be explained largely in terms of health behaviors that relate to them. Consider the 10 leading causes of death, as of 2014, as characterized by diagnosed disease or condition: diseases of heart, malignant neoplasms (cancer), chronic lower respiratory diseases, unintentional injuries (accidents), cerebrovascular diseases (stroke), Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes mellitus, influenza and pneumonia, nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis, and intentional self-harm (suicide). The next five leading causes of death were septicemia, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease, Parkinson’s disease, and pneumonitis caused by inhalation of solids and liquids (NCHS, 2015b). In one way or another, personal health behavior has an impact on the occurrence in any given individual of most of the diseases and conditions on this list. Looking at the cause of death in a different way, that is, by major contributing cause of the disease to which the death was attributed rather than by the disease itself, in the first study of its kind, McGinnis and Foege (1993) showed that, as of 1990, the leading factors were tobacco use, dietary patterns, sedentary lifestyle, alcohol consumption, microbial agents, toxic agents, firearms, sexual behavior, motor vehicles, and use of illicit drugs. As of 2002, the situation remained the same (McGinnis, Williams-Russo, & Knickman, 2002).Even though there is widespread agreement that health is a response to the physical and social environments in which the individual lives and is influenced by the individ-ual’s genetic inheritance, health behaviors are often seen as the best target for health improvement efforts. For example, the emphasis of Healthy People 2010 (DHHS, 2000), which is the U.S. nationwide health-promotion and disease-prevention a
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