Nursing Assignment: Risk of Heart Attack Due to Regular Exercise in Older Adults

Question

Task: You are required to conduct a thorough research and prepare a nursing assignment on the topic “Does regular exercise help in minimizing the risk of a heart attack in older adults?”

Answer

Introduction:
Coronary heart disease and heart attack are some of the most common types of illness and risk to health identified in the case of an elderly population with a mortality rate of 360,900 in the year 2019. It has been found herein nursing assignmentthat approximately 6.7 % of the overall adult pupation is known to suffer from coronary artery disease wherein every 10 deaths, 2 have been assessed due to heart failure in the elderly population. Also, elderly people have been analyzed to have limited involvement in physical activity than those of the younger adults (Piercy et al., 2018). It has been identified by the World Health Organization that involvement in regular physical activity has a potential impact in reducing the risk of heart attack and other complex health illnesses that may lead to life-taking complications in an elderly population (World Health Organization, 2021). It has been known to support healthy aging, minimize the risk of premature death as well as ensure better physical and mental health within individuals belonging to every age group. The assessment will thus focus on the assessment 1individual writing assessment and the selected 4 research articles and conduct a literature analysis in order to understand responses to the following research question.

For older men above the age of 65, does a regular 30 minutes/day exercise can help to minimize the risk of heart attack as compared to older men who do not indulge in such activities?

Literature review:
According to Antonicelli et al., (2016),congestive heart failure is known to affect more than 2 percent of the westernpopulation precisely people belonging to the adult ad elderly population. The risk of sustaining CHF increases with growing age and is high among the elderlypopulation. The risk of the issue in the elderlypopulationincreases due to factors such as decreased life expectancy, responses to treatment as well as different cardiovascular issues and events. The research study focused on conducting a systematic literaturereview of differentresearcharticles in order to assess the effectivetreatmentagainstthe rising issue of heart failure. After completion of the literature analyses, it was found that exercise training programs have a significant impact on the health of the elderly population wheeze serves as a medication against cardiovascular complications. It has been found from the study that exercise training along with drug treatment has a potential role in addressing the rising issues of CHF as well as other heart complications in every age group, but with a main focus on the elderly population (Antonicelli et al., 2016). Focusing on the CHF risk factor as well as increased prevalence in the elderly population, physical training along with drug treatment can ensure a significant therapeutic impact on the elderly population.

Also is a study conducted by Pandey et al., (2017), it was found that physical activity and regular exercise have been significantly minimizing the risk of reduced ejection fraction and great failure in the elderly population. The studywas carriedout with an aim of assessing and analyzing the predictors, as well as the magnitude of exercise training outcomes in the elderly population who have been suffering from increasedrisk of reduced ejection fraction and heart failure. in the research study participants, were involved in exercise training focusing on a randomized control trial study over a 16-week period. The participants were supervised with moderate to intense exercise training against their health issues as the participants belonged to the age group of older adults (Pandey et al., 2017). The research evidencesupported the study with the understanding and evidence that exercise traininghas its impact in changing the VO2peak in older adults with increased risk of heartfailure and thus minimizes the associated risk of mortality.

According to Long et al., (2019), chronic heart failure has been developing a major global health issue accounting for increased mortality in elderly populations. There are certainly considerableburdens related to an increased rate of heart failure which accounts for low tolerance of exercise and physical health as well as health-related quality of life, frequent hospital admission, increased risk of death as well as increased health care expenditure. It has been found in one of the reviewed studies that a decrease in the rate of mortality in the case of long-term care was identified in patients with regular involvement in physical activity when compared to those who did not have any involvement in exercise. The research was carried out using a randomized controlled trial that focuses on comparing exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation intervention for the elderly population for a duration of six months with those with no exercise in their life. It was found from the research study that cardiovascular rehabilitation has a clinical impact on enhancing and improvising the health conduction as well as the quality of life of the elderly population (Long et al., 2019). Precisely involvement of the elderly population in physical activity or exercise as cardiovascular rehabilitations ensure long-term intervention against cardiac issues and other underlying health complications.

Where in the study carried out by Wright et al., (2018), it was found that exercise has a significant role in health care and is mostly recommended by professionals to reduce the risk associated with metabolic syndrome in the elderly population. There is a limited number of pieces of evidence that clearly discuss the role of exercise-based intervention against metabolic syndrome caused due to cardiac events in the patients. The research was thus carried out in order to assess and evaluate the impact of lifestyle exercises in elder people with an aim to improve and treat metabolic syndrome followed by a cardiac event. Participants were involved with their recent incidences of a cardiac event in order to assess the impact of lifestyle exercise intervention. Metabolic syndrome impacting elderly people followed by cardiac events includes diastolic blood pressure glucose imbalance, systolic blood pressure, high-density lipid in the body, triglycerides as well as waist circumference (Wright et al., 2018). As these patients were provided with a lifestyle exercise intervention, it was found that they witnessed a major change in their metabolic syndrome and thus enhanced health-related quality of life.

Analysis:
In order to support the research evidence and develop a correlation between the findings to the research question, pieces of evidence from the World Health Organisation were assessed and evaluated.The World Health Organization has been guiding the worldwide population with the fact that elderly people must involve themselves in a minimum of 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to intense exercise and physical activity in an entire week (World Health Organization, 2021). Apart from physical activities, they need to preciselyfocuson activities that help in developingfunctional ability, as well asstrength to the body in order to sustain a healthy and independentlifestyle. The involvement of elderly people in theseexercises help them sustain better cardiorespiratoryhealth and at the sametime minims the risk of fall and associatedinjury. Physicalactivity in the elderly has been known to minimize hypertension, cardiac issues, heart attack, diabetes as well as complex mental health illnesses. The researchshreds of evidence from the selected 4 researcharticleshelp in ensuring that older people who are regularlyinvolved in physicalactivity in their lives for a minimum30-minute period have a minimized risk of sustainingheartattack as factors that are associated with developing the risk of cardiovascular abnormality and heart failure (Fiuza-Luces et al., 2018). as the research question focuses on assessing whether regular 30 minutes/day exercise in elderly individuals’dailyroutine can help to minimize the risk of a heart attack when compared to those older people who do not indulge in such activities, it was found that exercise is an essential factor in their daily routines. It has been found that the risk of heart attack, immobility, as well as falls, is high in those elderly people who are not physically active or carry out a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise in their lifestyle (Anderson& Durstine, 2019). The literature analysis provided a significant response to the search question and provide an insight into the efficacy of physical activity in individual life.

Impact on the role of nurses and midwives:
Nurses and midwifery facilities have a significant role in addressing people with multiple health care treatments andinterventions in order to assist them with better healthoutcomes. Focusing on, the above-discussedpieces of evidence, it can bestated that these findings have a potential role in the servicesdelivered by the nurse and midwives in their professions. Following this understanding, nurses and midwifery staff can ensue significant delivery of exercise andphysicalactivity to theirpatients with cardiovascular issues aswell asother healthcomplications to assist them in maintaininghealthybody weight. It will help them guide their patientsabout the necessity of exercise in the elderlypatient's life tosustain a longer life expectancy. The nurse will help in generating awareness and guidance to the patient and ensure that elderlypeople are involved in aminimum of 30 minutes of exercise in their lifetosustainminimized threat of heart attack. It will help these populate a better lifestyle, and independence (Henskens et al., 2018). Thus, these nurses and midwives explain the necessity of using the pieces of evidence in their roles as careproviders and generating community awareness. They will serve as an educator and well as a trainer for elderpeople and help them develop a major and healthy change in their daily routine.

Conclusion:
After completion of the literaturereview and analysis of the four pre-selected research articles from assessment 1 individual writing assessment, a wider range of understanding has been attained focusing on the research question. It has been found that physical activity has a significant role in ensuring healthy aging in older adults. It has provided individuals from different age groups with healthy living and minimized risk from physical and mental health. Physical activity assists elderly people with better cardiovascular health and body cholesterol level with altogether helps in reducing the risk of a heart attack. Thus, it is necessary for elderly people to involve in 30 min minimum exercise and physical activity with proper consideration to safety measures in order to sustain better cardiac health. The assessment also helps in evaluating the significance of these findings in the role of nurses and midwives as they are the bridge connected health care to the patients.

References:
Antonicelli, R., Spazzafumo, L., Scalvini, S., Olivieri, F., Matassini, M. V., Parati, G., Del Sindaco, D., Gallo, R., & Lattanzio, F. (2016). Exercise: a "new drug" for elderly patients with chronic heart failure. Aging, 8(5), 860–872. https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.100901

Long, L., Mordi, I. R., Bridges, C., Sagar, V. A., Davies, E. J., Coats, A. J., Dalal, H., Rees, K., Singh, S. J., & Taylor, R. S. (2019). Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for adults with heart failure. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 1(1), CD003331. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD003331.pub5

Pandey, A., Kitzman, D. W., Brubaker, P., Haykowsky, M. J., Morgan, T., Becton, J. T., & Berry, J. D. (2017). Response to Endurance Exercise Training in Older Adults with Heart Failure with Preserved or Reduced Ejection Fraction. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 65(8), 1698–1704. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.14867

Wright, K. D., Moore-Schiltz, L., Sattar, A., Josephson, R., & Moore, S. M. (2018). Does Lifestyle Exercise After a Cardiac Event Improve Metabolic Syndrome Profile in Older Adults. The Journal of cardiovascular nursing, 33(3), E1–E9. https://doi.org/10.1097/JCN.0000000000000473

World Health Organization. (2021). Physical activity fact sheet (No. WHO/HEP/HPR/RUN/2021.2). World Health Organization.Nursing assignment Retrieved from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/346252/WHO-HEP-HPR-RUN-2021.2-eng.pdf?sequence=1

Fiuza-Luces, C., Santos-Lozano, A., Joyner, M., Carrera-Bastos, P., Picazo, O., Zugaza, J. L., ... & Lucia, A. (2018). Exercise benefits in cardiovascular disease: beyond attenuation of traditional risk factors. Nature Reviews Cardiology, 15(12), 731-743. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-018-0065-1 Piercy, K. L., Troiano, R. P., Ballard, R. M., Carlson, S. A., Fulton, J. E., Galuska, D. A., ... & Olson, R. D. (2018). The physical activity guidelines for Americans. Jama, 320(19), 2020-2028. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.14854
Anderson, E., & Durstine, J. L. (2019). Physical activity, exercise, and chronic diseases: A brief review. Sports Medicine and Health Science, 1(1), 3-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smhs.2019.08.006

Henskens, M., Nauta, I. M., Van Eekeren, M. C., & Scherder, E. J. (2018). Effects of physical activity in nursing home residents with dementia: a randomized controlled trial. Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders, 46(1-2), 60-80. https://doi.org/10.1159/000491818