Why Chronic Health Conditions Are Prevalent in Los Angeles

Overall, Los Angeles is a healthy city. It beats the national averages for smoking and obesity, and the leading causes of death are untreatable problems like Alzheimer’s, cancer, and various heart conditions. 

While on the surface, health in Los Angeles is good, many are noticing the rise of chronic health conditions. This is especially true in major cities like New York and Los Angeles. 

Major Cities Can Lead to Health Conditions

Cities are designed for efficiency and cramming as much as possible into a small space. As a result, not much thought goes into the health of the people living there. This is partly because few people understand the health problems big cities can cause. 

Research is finally being done to determine what smog, poor air quality, and other factors in a city can do to a person’s health. But most major cities have little space for making big changes. 

For example, with chronic health conditions like asthma, studies have found that major cities are hubs. This is likely due to emissions from vehicles, factories, planes, and more. 

While walking to work in big cities can be easier, it’s still harder to lead a healthy lifestyle. There aren’t many places that are enjoyable to walk to, especially in poorer neighborhoods where parks may be congregation areas for less savory individuals and groups. Additionally, healthier food can be scarcer, with some parts of major cities being described as food deserts. Combined with a lack of time to shop and cook, this can lead people to be overweight and miss key nutrients. 

This can also lead to diabetes, which is common, and mostly affects poorer communities and minorities. 

Some research has shown that your social life can also affect your health. Cancer is caused by many things, from smoking to an unhealthy diet. However, some suggest that having a social group can also reduce the risk of cancer and help people get better after a diagnosis. While cities have more people, the close connections that are often seen in rural areas are sometimes missing. Although this isn’t true of everyone, it can cause issues in certain, less naturally social, individuals. 

While definitive research hasn’t been done on other chronic conditions like COPD, heart disease, hypertension, and arthritis, the concentration of these conditions is higher in major cities, and this may be due to environmental factors. However, it’s also possible that people in rural areas don’t report their symptoms or go to the doctor as often, so more research must be done. 

Health Problems Aren’t Being Treated

Another reason health conditions aren’t noticed or treated early is that people often don’t go to their appointments. Whether this is due to fear or lack of time, availability, money, or transportation, many people avoid medical care. 

It can be hard to address all of these issues. Minorities often fear that doctors won’t listen to them or that they will have to shell out a lot of money only to be ignored or treated unprofessionally. 

Many women also fear that they are often ignored, or their symptoms dismissed when they visit a doctor. Even if a doctor listens, they may be switched to another doctor before the next appointment, depending on the doctor’s office. In part, this is because doctors have limited time to spend with each patient, especially with government-issued health insurance. 

Additionally, doctors are expensive, and it can be hard to get health insurance as there is a gap between people on government insurance and people being able to afford their own insurance if their job doesn’t provide it.

By making a few more dollars in income per month, someone can go from paying only a couple of dollars for appointments to paying $600 or more per person per month for insurance. These are often the same people who don’t have time to go to the doctor, as they are living paycheck to paycheck and working multiple jobs. 

Finally, transportation is a big issue. Many people don’t have a reliable vehicle or a way to get to appointments on time. While there are medical transportation services, these can be expensive and can be embarrassing for patients to use. Chauffeur services Los Angeles are an option, but that still leaves the cost of transportation up to the patient. 

Regularly scheduled appointments with a doctor can help ensure early treatment to prevent more serious conditions or even death. To help reduce the rise in chronic health problems, the patient-doctor relationship must be changed a little.