Heart attack is the death of a segment of heart muscle caused by the loss of blood supply. The blood supply is usually lost because a coronary artery, one that supplies blood to the heart muscle, has a blood clot, a blockage also known as coronary thrombosis or coronary disease. (“What Is A Heart Attack? What Causes A Heart Attack? ” 2013) Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in America with approximately 460,000 related deaths due to a sudden and unforeseen heart attack.
Of those who die, almost half suffer an attack so suddenly that they do not have time to call an ambulance or get to a hospital in time. (Fleet, 2013, p. 1) Its symptoms will actually vary from person to person; in fact some people will go from having no symptoms to just a few ones that they will be surprised to learn that they have already gotten a heart attack. The heart attacks without any symptoms are called silent heart attacks. (“What Are The Symptoms Of A Heart Attack? ” 2013) Most heart attacks usually involve some kind of discomfort in the chest; it usually last a few minutes, goes away and then comes back.
Sometimes it feels like heartburn or indigestion. Other people will feel pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, shoulders, neck, jaw, or upper part of the stomach. Shortness of breath while resting or doing a little bit of physical activity can also be encountered. Breaking out in a cold sweat, women feeling unusually tired for no apparent reasons, feeling sick to the stomach and vomiting, feeling lightheaded and dizzy are also other common symptoms associated with heart attack. (“What Are The Symptoms Of A Heart Attack?
” 2013) According to WebMD, there are several risk factors associated with heart disease; some we can control and others are out of our hands; the purpose of this study is to discover how heart disease can be prevented and the kinds of risk factors this disease involves. The controllable aspects for heart attacks would be smoking because people who use nicotine-based products such as cigarettes greatly increase their chance of developing heart disease. Obesity as it is recognized as a leading cause of coronary disease is also a risky factor.
Diabetes, a disease that causes inability to properly metabolize glucose; because it is commonly associated with blood and circulation and complications such as blood flow to the extremities and kidney disease, also raises one’s chances of developing cardiovascular diseases. (Kanen, 2013) Physical inactivity, stress and anger are also contributing factors of the said disease. The American Heart Association recommends that heart attack prevention begins by age 20. This means assessing your risk factors and working to keep them low.
For those over 40, or those with multiple risk factors, it is important to calculate the risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years. Many first-ever heart attacks or strokes are fatal or disabling, so prevention is critical. (“The Time Is Now To Reduce Your Risks! ” 2012) We can actually manage these factors by eating better; a healthy diet improves our chances of feeling well and it is pertinent for the fight of heart disease. Exercising keeps us healthy while it lowers our risk of heart attack. Quit smoking is a healthy decision to make as we all are aware of the fact that it is one of the nation’s top causes of death.
Controlling our diabetes by reducing our blood sugar will help protect our vital organs. It is also said that the uncontrollable risk factors are the male sex, older age, family history of heart disease, post-menopausal for women and race, as they say that African Americans, American Indians and Mexican Americans are more likely to have heart disease than Caucasians. (“Risk Factors For Heart Disease. ” 2012) The research questions that I came up with are: How does one’s diet affect his risks for a heart attack? Could growing old condemn us to possibly getting a heart attack?
How do we learn to consume healthier food in order for us to stay away from a possible heart attack? Could our race be a stigma when it comes to cardiovascular disease? The scope of this study on a local and national level, even furthermore on a global stage as well is to teach different communities about the damages inflicted by heart disease. It is the number one killer in our nation and has to be taken seriously at all times. It is important for men, women to take care of themselves and to know what they can do to avoid getting a heart attack.
They have to comprehend that this disease does not discriminate; if one does not take care of himself as far as eating healthy, working out, lowering his blood pressure, not smoking amongst other factors, then his chances of getting a cardiovascular disease are not soslim. We want to be able to prevent this disease from continually killing us. Many damages are associated with heart disease; as it was stated earlier in the paragraph, we can control some factors, and just be careful with other ones, so it is imperative that we do everything in our power to constantly be aware and not let this disease win.
The fact of the matter is that heart attack is the number killer in America. If we do not study the risk factors associated with this disease, it is pointless to talk about battling it. Researching how to constantly fight this disease is relevant to the actual problem, which is how to battle heart attack. For this particular subject, exploratory, descriptive and causal testing will be combined because with a study like heart disease, it is important to look at what is already known of the disease such as the factors associated with the risk of getting it.
What should be researched on is what we are not aware of, the things we cannot control such as getting older, being of a different race, and genetics. A descriptive study will also work for this matter as it is important for collecting data on the effects of heart attack amongst Americans. One of the interests will be the co-relation between gaining weight and possibly getting a heart attack; as we all know that by gaining weight, one increases his chances of getting diabetes, which alone can cause someone to be at risk with cardiovascular disease.
For a causal study, the independent variable remains the heart attack; that is the subject, and that is what is being researched. In fact, the only things that will be changing accordingly are age, obesity and much more; those are called dependent variables because they depend on the disease. Different groups will be used for sampling design; the first one will be people found in a specialized facility dealing with diabetes’ patients; it is important to find a co-relationship between these patients and the risks associated with heart attack.
The second group will consist of African Americans found in the southern part of Atlanta as that area is known to hold an immense concentration of blacks in Georgia. Finally, residents of an assisted living facility in Gwinnett County will be the third group used because it will make the design easier since the subjects of the study will already be living in one area.
The types of statistic used to analyze the risk factors of heart attack research are no different than in any other area of general research; this basically signifies that research in the risk factors associated with heart attacks uses all forms of statistics. Some research studies may use simple descriptive or summary statistics, while other research studies on heart attacks may use statistical techniques such as t-test, chi-square, analysis of variance, regression analysis factor analysis, and cluster analysis. It will take approximately two days for the problem statement to be completed; three hours to research the purpose of the study, and eight hours for all four questions regarding the research.
The background of the study will be dedicated four hours as well. The scope of the study will take two hours; the relevance of the study will be getting two hours as well. The research design will take one week because it will take nearly three days to sample all three groups and two days to assemble all the data collected and to come up with data analysis base. In order to sample each group of people, we will have to buy some food and drinks for us to grasp their attention; that will cost us around $75 per group.
I will be hiring two college undergraduate students that will get paid $10 an hour for them to help with the whole research design of the proposal, and since it is going to take five days to complete that portion; they will be working 5 hours per day. $475 will be the totality spent on the budget for the research on the risk factors associated with heart attack.
References Fleet, A. (2013). 10 Heart Attack Signs: How to Know if You’re Having a Heart Attack. Retrieved from http://www. activebeat. co/your-health/women/10-heart-attack-signs-how-to-know-if-youre-having-a-heart-attack Kanen, C. (2013). Who Does Heart Disease Affect?
Retrieved from http://www. ehow. com/about_5569602_heart-disease-affect. html Prevention and Treatment of Heart Attack. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. heart. org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/PreventionTreatmentofHeartAttack Risk Factors for Heart Disease. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. webmd. com/heart-disease/risk-factors-heart-disease What Are the Symptoms of a Heart Attack? (2013). Retrieved from http://www. nhlbi. nih. gov/health/health-topics/topics/heartattack/signs. html What is A Heart Attack? What Causes A Heart Attack? (2013). Retrieved from http://www. medicalnewstoday. com/articles.