Research and Evidence Based Assignment: PICOT
PICOT Assignment
My identified clinical problem is acute myocardial infarction among women aged 30-40 years and whether women who have high blood pressure are at an increased risk of suffering from acute myocardial infarction when compared with women without high blood pressure. High blood pressure is associated with various complications, and I will be analyzing whether the complications can result in acute myocardial infarction. Previously, acute myocardial infarction was known as a men’s disease, but women suffering from the condition have been on the rise in the recent past (Daskalopoulou et al., 2015). This is attributed to various conditions such as poor access to medical care due to financial barriers, especially for homewives in a household without medical cover.
I have selected this clinical problem as acute myocardial infarction in Australia is rampant as in 2015, 213 out of 100,000 women were affected by the life-threatening condition. High blood is the leading major cause of acute myocardial infarction. High blood pressure is caused by various factors such as high levels of alcohol consumption, excessive smoking, excessive weight gain, poor dieting, and lack of exercise (Nadlacki et al., 2021). All medical practitioners I have interacted with agree that managing high blood pressure will be critical in addressing acute myocardial infarction. PICO format was selected for the study with P=30-40-year-old women, I=high blood pressure, C= women without high blood pressure, and O=acute myocardial infarction.
Acute myocardial infarction is a medical condition that occurs when blood flow to the heart is abruptly interrupted, causing tissue damage. There are various causes of the condition, but the most common cause is high blood pressure among the female sex. According to several studies, high blood pressure in women is a strong risk factor for experiencing an acute myocardial infarction. High blood pressure is attributed to cause cardiac hypertrophy, which causes acute myocardial infarction. Cardiac hypertrophy involves abnormal enlargement of the heart muscles, making it hard for the heart to pump blood (Mythili & Malathi, 2015). The enlargement will cause the abnormal structure of heart cells, resulting in the heart’s poor functioning, leading to irregular heartbeats. The failure to pump blood through the arteries will disrupt blood flow to the heart, leading to muscle damage associated with acute myocardial infarction.
The existing literature suggests that women aged 30-40 years suffer from an acute myocardial infarction during the pregnancy period. Pregnancy is associated with weight gain, poor dieting due to pregnancy cravings, and lack of exercise due to body changes. Weight gain, poor diet, and lack of exercise are major causes of high blood pressure, which in turn causes acute myocardial infarction (Shah et al., 2015). There are no substantive studies that conclude that pregnancy is a risk factor for acute myocardial infarction. Pregnancy is associated with high blood volume, change in hemodynamics, increase in progesterone and estrogen. Progestins and oral estrogen associated with pregnancy are risk factors that can result in acute myocardial infarction. High blood pressure associated with pregnancy is compounded by various other factors such as obesity and poor diet.
Multiple recommendations exist for the prevention of acute myocardial infarction. They include prevention of high blood pressure by quitting smoking, exercising, and observing a good diet to avoid obesity and reduce stress. Women between 30-40 years of age have increased levels of inactivity than men resulting in high blood pressure (Lichtman et al., 2015). Exercising is therefore critical in controlling high blood pressure that is a significant cause of acute myocardial infarction. Women over the age of 40 years are more prone to acute myocardial infarction than young women. High blood pressure is a major cause of acute myocardial infarction; thus, I can conclude that women aged 30-40 years with high blood pressure are at increased risk of having acute myocardial infarction than women without high blood pressure.
References
- Daskalopoulou, S. S., Rabi, D. M., Zarnke, K. B., Dasgupta, K., Nerenberg, K., Cloutier, L., & Canadian Hypertension Education Program. (2015). The 2015 Canadian Hypertension Education Program recommendations for blood pressure measurement, diagnosis, assessment of risk, prevention, and treatment of hypertension. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 31(5), 549-568.
- Lichtman, J. H., Leifheit-Limson, E. C., Watanabe, E., Allen, N. B., Garavalia, B., Garavalia, L. S., … & Curry, L. A. (2015). Symptom recognition and healthcare experiences of young women with acute myocardial infarction. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 8(2_suppl_1), S31-S38.
- Mythili, S., & Malathi, N. (2015). Diagnostic markers of acute myocardial infarction. Biomedical reports, 3(6), 743-748.
- Nadlacki, B., Horton, D., Hossain, S., Hariharaputhiran, S., Ngo, L., Ali, A., & Ranasinghe, I. (2021). Long term survival after acute myocardial infarction in Australia and New Zealand, 2009‒2015: a population cohort study. Medical Journal of Australia.
- Shah, A. S., Griffiths, M., Lee, K. K., McAllister, D. A., Hunter, A. L., Ferry, A. V., … & Mills, N. L. (2015). High sensitivity cardiac troponin and the under-diagnosis of myocardial infarction in women: prospective cohort study. BMJ, 350.