Census Information and Personal Health, Article Review Example

The United States Census Bureau hosts a website, with the subheading “quickfacts,” that makes it extremely easy to find pertinent information about the population numbers and demographics of almost any region in the country.The following information is taken from the page focusing on Davidson County in the state of Tennessee(it can be found here: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/47/47037.html). There is a wide range of different breakdowns available; the census data spells out how many people (by both number and percentage) are white, black, Native American, and so on. Along with racial and ethnic breakdowns, there is information about age, gender, and other individual information, as well as information about the economics of the region, such as the number of people employed in various fields. Here is a sample of some of the available information, as of 2010:

• Davidson County has a total of 626, 681 people.
• Number of White People, as a percentage: 4%
• Number of Black People, as a percentage: 27.7%
• Number of Males, as a percentage: 48.5%
• Number of Females, as a percentage: 51.5%
• Number of Children under age 18, as a percentage: 22.2%
• Number of People over age 65, as a percentage: 10.8%

The website Nashville.gov offers a broad range of information about various health services and initiatives that are available to the public. Among other resources, the site offers programs aimed at children under 18, including assistance for teenaged pregnancy. Pregnancy can be difficult at any age, and younger mothers often face problems associated with income and access to food, shelter, and medical care. Without adequate care, both the mother and the unborn child can suffer. Mothers who face health challenges during pregnancy may give birth to babies who suffer from everything from being underweight to having birth defects. It is critical that mothers of any age receive adequate medical care during pregnancy. Tennessee offers the Children’s Social Services program (CSS), which offers support for pregnant mothers, and for children under the age of 21, focusing both on avoiding potential risks for pregnant mothers and providing care to children suffering from illness, birth defects, and other health problems. Contact information for the program is available at http://health.nashville.gov/FYI.htm.

The website http://bvha.privatehealthnews.com/html/view.asp#1offers readers the opportunity to take Health Assessment quizzes for a number of different medical conditions. I chose to take the assessment for Stroke. There were several pages of questions, ranging from questions about health-related information to questions about lifestyle.

The quiz began by asking the following: what is your age; your gender; your race; your Body Mass Index (BMI)? Next came questions about diet, including how many servings of vegetables do you eat in a day; how many servings of fruit; how many servings of bread; how many servings of fish; how many servings of red meat, and how many servings of alcohol (if any)?

The next round of questions pertained to personal and family medical histories, asking: do you smoke (and if so, how much); have you had a heart attack, have you had angina pectoris; have you had a transient ischemic attack; do you have a chronic atrial fibrillation; do you have diabetes;  and do you know your blood sugar?

The last series of questions asked about medications, such as aspirin, Coumadin (a blood thinner) and any medications for depression. After those, the quiz concluded with a few questions about family medical history, specifically asking if anyone in the immediate family had suffered a stroke, a TIA, or a heart attack before the age of 60.

After going through all of the questions, the final page offers the results of the assessment. Unfortunately, I was higher than average risk for Stroke. The results seemed to be specifically tailored to my answers, as they offered suggestions for each group of questions and answers, telling me what I could do and things I could change about my diet and lifestyle to lower my risk of Stroke in the future. It was definitely an interesting site, and the results got my attention, making me realize that there are things I need to do differently to protect my health.

Bibliography

http://bvha.privatehealthnews.com/html/view.asp#1

http://health.nashville.gov/FYI.htm

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/47/47037.html