System Dynamics Simulation Model for Cardiovascular Heart Disease Risk Factors - Smoking and Alcohol Intake

Detecting diseases at early stage can help to overcome and treat them accurately. Identifying the appropriate treatment depends on the method that is used in diagnosing the diseases. The incidence of cardiovascular heart disease (CVD) has been increasing steadily and so too its associated mortality. System Dynamics is appropriate methodology for Modelling and Simulation. The Expert knowledge about risk factors for CVD was elicited through interview and literature search. Two CVD risk factors Smoking and Alcohol Intake were analyzed by the proposed decision support system developed with System Dynamics Simulation software (iThink V9.0.2 ),used for the design, implementation and evaluation of the system. The proposed framework would be particularly useful for researchers in the field but also for medical practitioners and developers of medical decision support systems.