Chronic Illness

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Chronic illnesses are mostly characterized by: complex causes many risk factors long latency periods (time between onset of the illness and feeling its effects) a long illness functional impairment or disability.

Most chronic illnesses do not fix themselves and are generally not cured completely. Some can be immediately life-threatening, such as heart disease and stroke. Others linger over time and need intensive management, such as diabetes. Most chronic illnesses persist throughout a person’s life, but are not always the cause of death, such as arthritis.

Common chronic illnesses

While many illnesses can be considered chronic, there are 12 major chronic conditions that are a significant burden in terms of morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs in the United States, including: 

· heart disease

· stroke

· lung cancer

· colorectal cancer

· depression

· type 2 diabetes

· arthritis

· osteoporosis

· asthma

· chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

· chronic kidney disease

· oral disease.