Heart disease鈥攁lso known as cardiovascular disease鈥攊s an umbrella term for a group of conditions that affect the structure and functions of the heart. While some forms of heart disease are congenital (present at birth), the vast majority develop with age. According to Health Canada, cardiovascular disease affects approximately 2.4 million Canadian adults, and is the second leading cause of death in the country.
While children and teens are not usually diagnosed with clinical heart disease, they may present risk factors for the illness. These include high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, diabetes, smoking, stress, excessive alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and being overweight. Right now, an estimated 27% of Canadian children and teens are overweight, and of them, 13% are considered obese, making excess weight and obesity the most common pediatric risk factors for heart disease. Moreover, studies show that obese children and teens are more likely to develop additional risk factors, and to remain obese as adults, leaving them more at risk for developing heart disease into adulthood.The good news: many forms of heart disease can be prevented by living an active, healthy lifestyle, and 海角社区 Nursing professor and researcher Andraea Van Hulst would argue that targeting childhood obesity is one of the best ways to prevent the onset of this illness.
Professor Van Hulst began her career as an ER nurse in a hospital with many patients seeking care for conditions related to heart disease. 鈥淲hile I loved the challenges and the pace of the ER, I soon realized I was not focusing my efforts where they were most needed,鈥� says Van Hulst.
鈥淎t the end of a shift, I felt good about contributing to saving the life of a patient who suffered a heart attack or stroke, but I felt that I needed to stop people from falling into the river instead of pulling them out of the water as they were drowning,鈥� she says.聽聽
Van Hulst went from the ER to pursue graduate studies in public health, to now, where her program of research includes identifying the social and environmental factors and conditions that can lead to poor lifestyle behaviours and obesity in childhood. 鈥淓ating is part of everyday life, and how a child eats depends largely on how their family and friends eat, and on their access to different types of food,鈥� says Van Hulst.
What鈥檚 more, according to Van Hulst, it鈥檚 not just what we eat, it鈥檚 where we eat.
鈥淲here we live and work affects us, and children are no different,鈥� says Van Hulst. 鈥淓nvironments in which children live, learn and play influence their health. Living in low-income neighbourhoods often means less access to health promoting opportunities such as proximity of stores selling healthy foods, or parks that are safe and appealing to children for play,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e hope our research can identify targets for the prevention of obesity both at the individual and at the population levels.鈥�
Now, having recently joined Ingram School of Nursing鈥檚 faculty, Van Hulst is putting together a team and developing a program of research, which will include focusing on preventing risk factors for heart disease, and incorporating nursing expertise into the development of health-promotion and obesity-management strategies.
鈥淔amily-based approaches are recommended for treating childhood obesity, and nurses have an expertise and a longstanding background in using whole-family approaches in their practice,鈥� says Van Hulst. 鈥淥ne of my goals is to develop a nurse-led multidisciplinary approach to obesity prevention and treatment.鈥�
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