NURS-FPX 5003 Health Assessment and Promotion for Disease Prevention in Population-Focused Health ​​​​​​​Identifying Community Health Needs

Demographic Characteristics for a State

Demographic characteristics encompass elements such as population composition, race, ethnicity, disease prevalence, religious affiliation, educational attainment, and mental health diagnoses. These demographic factors often underpin behavioral patterns. Age plays a pivotal role in shaping an individual’s experiences within society. Additionally, demographic data includes community attributes like income levels, employment status, gender distribution, educational attainment, and commuting patterns. Racial categorization is frequently incorporated into demographic data (Minc et al., 2020).

Within racial categories, such as Asian, White, Black, and African American, diverse ethnicities and cultural backgrounds exist. Patient-specific information, including birthdates and insurance details, is part of illness demographics, which streamline medical billing, enhance healthcare quality, and bolster cultural competence. According to estimates from the United States Census Bureau in 2018, West Virginia’s total population was 1,775,156, with 93.1% White, 3.7% Black, 0.3% Asian, and 1.9% Latino.

Approximately 14.1% of the population is under 65 and living with a disability. Between 2017 and 2021, approximately 88.1% of the population completed high school. A significant proportion of the population suffers from multiple chronic conditions, including diabetes, cancer, kidney and lung diseases, arthritis, and risk factors like obesity and high blood pressure.

Trends Regarding Population in Demographic Reports

Between 2010 and 2021, West Virginia’s population increased every two out of eleven years. The most significant population decline occurred between 2016 and 2017, with a 0.8% decrease. Approximately 16.2% of adults in West Virginia, roughly 232,336 individuals, have diabetes, with demographic reports indicating an increasing trend among American Indians and non-Hispanic Blacks (American Diabetes Association, 2022).

Similar to clinical medicine’s focus on disease development and expression in individuals, epidemiology can be regarded as the study of disease development and expression within communities. Public health officials are increasingly concerned about the persistent and, in some cases, growing significance of diseases. Epidemiology relies on key concepts, including population analysis and comparison. Public health epidemiologists are primarily responsible for disease research, assessment, and policy formulation (ADA, 2022). Essential epidemiological tools encompass data overview, program data analysis supervision, and prompt assessment. Different tools may offer distinct types of information, even if they frequently cover the same health outcomes or indicators.