cholesterol, obesity, high blood pressure, a sedentary lifestyle, or a smoking habit — that puts them at high risk of developing a chronic disease.62 Many adults have more than one risk factor and can develop multiple chronic conditions.
These chronic diseases are killers that strike down Texans before their time. Tobacco, for instance, is directly responsible for the death of 24,000 Texans each year.63
This is more than homicide, HIV,
suicide, influenza and pneumonia, accidents, and diabetes — combined.
Patients and their families trust their physicians to guide and influence decisions made to protect the patient’s health. However, with the massive information and misinformation in today’s super technology-driven environment, each patient and family needs the truth. Health literacy — patients’ education and ability to read, follow instructions, and communicate verbally — also affects their health. Nine out of 10 adults struggle with fully understanding basic health information as seen in advertisements, stores, the news, and in their communities.64
A PHYSICIAN’S STORY
All physicians and health care providers need to educate themselves on the cross-cultural dynamics that can impact a patient’s understanding and compliance with treatment. So, too, must the government’s education efforts evolve to accommodate the diverse cultures among poorer populations to ensure materials and programs connect with our population.
Invest in a public health prevention infrastructure
Many of Texas’ health problems are associated with socioeconomic and environmental factors, such as neighborhood, poverty, and education level. These factors influence our health both individually and as groups. They contribute disproportionately to health disparities including premature death. Partnering with public health is a way for physicians to maximize limited resources and capacity, and address factors in Texas communities that influence health.
Jason Terk, MD Keller
Vaccination Is the Right Thing to Do
“The tack that I take is, I sit down with families who have questions and concerns about vaccines and vaccine safety, and I ask them what they specifically are concerned about, and we talk about those issues. What have they heard? What was their experience? What was the experience of the family member? Then we address those specific issues, and we talk about what the real truth is and the real evidence is of what we need to do. The goal is obviously to address the concern, then make sure we do the right thing, which is vaccinate the child, because we now know that vaccines are one of the most important things we do to protect babies and children, and there is no connection between autism or any other neurodevelopmental disorder and vaccines.”
The increase in the number of older Texans during the coming decades will have dramatic consequences for public health, the health care financing and delivery systems, informal caregiving, and pension systems. More older adults and increasing chronic disease will further strain resources in Texas counties where basic public health concerns (e.g., control of infectious diseases and maternal and child health) are yet to be addressed fully.
November 2012 TEXAS MEDICINE 65
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