Kim’s public health blog

Looking at the mutliple research studies on health it becomes clear, despite the poor quality of many studies, there are two consistent messages that should be taken to heart. To grow older and have less likelihood of cancer and improved mental abilities as one ages it is necessary to indulge in regular exercise and learning. The studies show that likelihood of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, among other chronic diseases, are lower among those who exercise. The likelihood of mental deterioration, Alzheimer’s  disease and limited cognitive ability are decreased with lifelong learning.  Use your muscles and your brain daily and your health will be enhanced.

From the Guttmacher Institute today research, which surveyed women and family planning providers nationwide, uncovered a number of factors that impede women’s ability to use contraceptives consistently and correctly over the long term. “Helping women who do not want to become pregnant to use contraceptives more effectively is sound public policy that will reduce unintended pregnancy,” says study author Jennifer Frost, asenior research associate. Half of teh women seeking to avoid pregnancy remain at risk—some use no contraceptive at all (8%), some have periods of nonuse (15%) and some use their method inconsistently or incorrectly (27%). “Finding the ‘right’ contraceptive method is not a one-time decision—rather it’s a series of choices as women’s life circumstances and contraceptive needs change,” says Dr. Frost.

An interesting ‘Perspective’ has been published in the BMJ this week by Roger England asking the public health field to consider whether it took the wrong approach to AIDS. The ‘Think’ piece notes that AIDS is not more important than malaria, pneumonia, diabetes or heart disease in developing countries. It also notes that if it were not for the diatribes of the Gay Communities AIDS would have  been treated like other sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis or gonorrhea and that faster progress might have been made. Further the public health community should not have shelved action against other major killing diseases in favor of AIDS. Maybe now is the time to place AIDS into perspective and treat it both as a chronic disease, like TB, and as an acute infectious disease like syphilis.

Acccording to an article in the May AJPM (Volume 34, Issue 6, Pages 463-470) “Only  28% of children beetween 18 & 30 months of age were correctly immunized.” These children either had no immunization, only part of the required set or missed necessary doses to be properly protected.  The U.S. falls way behind developing countries that can ill afford expensive medical interventions and understand the value of preventing infectious diseases.  The activists in this country get too much press whlie they spout invalidated theories about the dangers of immunizations. Being old enough to have seen children in iron lungs, to have seen children mentally damaged from measles and mumps. to have seen children with multiple organ damage from measles, sterility from mumps and heart abnormalities from maternal rubella I find it incredible that so many people cannot see the value of protecting theit own children as well as all others, even if very rare side effects do occur. Nothing is 100% safe. We have been misled by tort lawyers whose first answer to any damage is to sue, and whose second act to to push uninformed politicians to make special exceptions. Remember that no-one can prove that nothing occurs, yet this is the mantra of activists.

New research suggests that more pregnant women are prediabetic, and that infant health can be improved by evaluating diabetic predisposition. The American Diabetes Association states “The number of pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes is rapidly increasing, leading to increased health risks for both the mothers and their unborn children. The seriousness of this problem was brought home by a new ADA-funded study, which showed a doubling of the number of pregnant women with diabetes over a seven-year period.”
Women are at higher risk for diabetes if they:
Are overweight
Are physically inactive
Are over the age of 45
Have a family history of diabetes (parent, brother, or sister)
Are a member of high-risk ethnic population (e.g., African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander)
Had gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy) or had a baby weighing more than nine pounds at birth
Have high blood pressure
Have abnormal blood fat levels (cholesterol or triglycerides)
Have been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (a condition of irregular periods and infertility)
Have ever been told you have pre-diabetes
Have a history of heart disease or stroke

One more article that indicates the value of breast feeding. In an article titled, Breastfeeding and Child Cognitive Development Dr. Michael S. Kramer, Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Institute of Human Development, reports the results from following the same group of 14,000 children for 6.5 years.
The study provides the strongest evidence to date that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding makes kids smarter,” said Kramer, a Professor of Pediatrics and of Epidemiology & Biostatistics in the McGill University Faculty of Medicine and lead investigator in the study.
“The effect of breastfeeding on brain development and intelligence has long been a popular and hotly debated topic,” says Dr. Kramer. “While most studies have been based on association, however, we can now make a causal inference between breastfeeding and intelligence – because of the randomized design of our study.”

The NHANES survey conducted by the CDC during 2005 & 2006. Hispanics had the highest breast feeding rates. There is nothing better for human children than human milk. The contents of the milk contain antibodies and other components not found in any of the alternatives. As for other beneficial health habits the rate was lowest among the poorest, the rural and the unmarried women whose only source of advice is often local health departments who are frequently underfunded. The problem continues despite Maternal and Child Health programs starting with the ‘milk kitchens ‘ in New York in the late 1800s and early 1900s having shown the value of breast feeding for more than 100 years.  We learn slowly, caring for poor women and their children has little political appeal compared to sexy topics such as autism  with its vocal advocates and media interest.