A Sedentary Lifestyle in Low Back Pain and Cardiovascular Disease

A lifestyle in which an individual engages in very little physical activity is often called a sedentary lifestyle. And individuals in every region of the world are becoming less active. People tend to be sedentary when they engage in leisure activities such as using computers, watching television, or playing video games. Also, while people are at work, they frequently complete their tasks while seated at a desk. For older people, leading a sedentary lifestyle can raise a person's chance of developing cardiovascular disease as well as lower back pain.

According to the findings of one study, leading a sedentary lifestyle can increase the likelihood of developing low back pain (LBP). To perform the investigation, which was a meta-analysis, the researchers looked at 27 separate studies. The studies were discussed in articles that were made available in databases such as PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus. The analysis of the 27 studies revealed that leading a sedentary lifestyle increased one's likelihood of developing LBP.

For instance, utilizing a computer at work for longer than four hours a day can result in LBP. LBP might develop if a person spends more than seven hours a day sitting. Additionally, LBP may result from playing video games for at least twelve hours a week.

And with respect to a sedentary lifestyle in older people, a recent Finnish study looked at a cohort of  660 subjects, consisting of 277 men and 383 women. The mean age of the group was 68.9 years, and the study took place from 2013 to 2015.

The researchers found that a lower risk of cardiovascular disease is seen in older persons who limit their inactive time and engage in more daily physical exercise -- of any intensity. In fact, reducing inactive time and engaging in mild physical exercise are linked to lower all-cause mortality.

Since sedentary lifestyle can lead to LBP and increased cardiovascular risk, healthcare providers should encourage their patients to engage in exercise. And by the way, not only can exercise help treat LBP and lower cardiovascular risk, exercise may slow the decline in cognitive skills.

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Healthcare Cost for Type 2 diabetes

The National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) services can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes for individuals with prediabetes. The NDPP services include help with healthy diet, physical activity, and lifestyle modification to lower stress. In delaying or preventing type 2 diabetes, the NDPP services can reduce healthcare costs.

Reducing healthcare costs is a significant concern with respect to diabetes. And since older people incur more healthcare costs, in general, one recent study looked at the cost of providing healthcare services to people with type 2 diabetes who were over 65. The CMS version of the NDPP, called the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program, or MDPP, addresses diabetes prevention for Medicare beneficiaries, the majority of which are over 65 years of age.

In recent research conducted in Finland, investigators looked at "electronic patient records" to find people over 65 who had been told they had diabetes. After a selection process, 187 people with diabetes and 176 people without diabetes were chosen for the study. Information on how often primary care was used by the chosen participants was taken from electronic patient records for a one-year period.

It was found that, after a year, individuals with diabetes had more doctor's appointments, nurse's appointments, lab work done, and inpatient care at the community hospital than patients without a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

The older persons with type 2 diabetes who participated in these healthcare activities paid more for healthcare. In fact, the CDC reports that the average person with diabetes spends $16,750 a year on medical expenses. That is roughly 2.3 times what someone without diabetes would spend on medical care.

The NDPP and the MDPP (to some extent) are public-private arrangements that offer type 2 diabetes prevention services in healthcare and community settings. The NDPP and MDPP have been shown to decrease healthcare cost by delaying or preventing type 2 diabetes. To adequately address diabetes and type 2 diabetes prevention, healthcare providers should either offer treatment services or refer patients to community or healthcare organizations offering the services.

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Tags: environmental scanning, balanced scorecard, business planning, strategic management, bariatric industry analysis, weight loss industry analysis, weight management industry analysis, prediabetes