Behavior Risk Factors

Preventative medicine has changed the shape of modern medicine moving the shift from treatment and curing illnesses and dieses but from preventing them in the first place.   In 1984 The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force was founded by the government to develop recommendations for primary care clinicians on the appropriate content of periodic health examinations.   In 1990, the Task Force was reconstituted by the Department of Health and Human Services to continue and update these scientific assessments of preventive services.   The task force has helped determine when screenings for mammograms take place, informed the public of the importance of immunization, the practice of safe sex etc.   With heart disease, stroke and cancer being one of   the leading causes of death in the United States why do so many people continue to ignore risk factors such as nicotine use, obesity and excessive alcohol use when millions in spent annually trying to inform the public the importance of a healthy lifestyle.   In the paper I will discuss behavioral risk factors and how they pertain to my health science goals.
According to the Center for Disease Control or the CDC cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and has results in approximately 443,000 deaths per year in the United States with an estimated 5 million deaths worldwide annually.   Cigarette smoking has been linked to cancer, heart disease, stroke, and lung diseases (including emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic airway obstruction) and cost billions of dollars per year in heath related expenses.  
With all the illnesses that smoking can cause why do people start smoking and continue to smoke?   Nicotine is highly addictive.   Most people begin smoking during adolescents where they are more susceptible to addiction.   As a child who lost a parent to a smoking related illness, I know firsthand the devastating effect smoking has not just on the smoker but on those around them.   More money needs...