Which disease is included in the Big 5 disease management programs?

• A. Ischemic Heart Disease
• B. Hypertension
• C. Cancer
• D. Stroke

Answer: (A)

The idea behind Big 5 disease management programs is to focus on the chronic conditions that drive the most deaths, hospitalizations, and costs, and to deliver coordinated, guideline-based care for those conditions. Ischemic heart disease is included because it is a leading cause of mortality and large driver of healthcare utilization. Managing it involves comprehensive, ongoing care—lipid lowering, antiplatelet therapy, blood pressure and diabetes control, smoking cessation, cardiac rehabilitation, and close follow-up—which fits the disease-management approach well.

Hypertension, while a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is typically addressed as a risk-factor management component rather than a stand-alone Big 5 disease in many programs. Cancer and stroke are indeed major health problems and often targeted in other frameworks, but the option highlighted as part of the Big 5 in this context is ischemic heart disease because it represents the primary disease category within that model.