Kim's public health blog

Healthy People 2020 Objectives

kimros — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:11:53 +0000

The objectives for Healthy People 2020 are now available for review and comment. HHS encourages participation in review and comment at the 2020 Objectives Site. The site is easy to navigate, commenting is simple. I find many of the objectives grammatically convoluted and confusing. I hope the readers of this blog will visit and comment.

Health center links food-borne illnesses with long-term health problems:

kimros — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:35:00 +0000

A new study has found that “survivors of severe cases of food-borne illnesses can suffer lifelong health problems.” Tanya Roberts, a board chairwoman of the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention tracked five major pathogens which “can cause paralysis, kidney failure, heart infections, neurological problems, and, in children, mental retardation, according to a white paper co-authored by Roberts that the center released Thursday.” The group “is a member of the Make Our Food Safe coalition, which is pressing Congress to pass legislation by the end of this year that would strengthen the Food and Drug Administration’s power to police domestic and imported food.”

Governments look to community-level solutions for obesity.

kimros — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:47:08 +0000

The Wall Street Journal (11/10, Dalton) reports that some countries’ governments have stopped focusing on individual discipline to combat obesity, and instead are working to make entire communities more healthy by reducing the opportunities to live unhealthily. Laura Kettel Khan, an obesity expert at the CDC, says that “people are finally acknowledging that the obesity problem is so pervasive that it isn’t just because people are making bad choices.” The Journal describes obesity programs across Europe and in the US, noting that these initiatives are taking off because obesity has become too expensive a problem to handle on an individual basis.

WHO finds HIV/AIDS leading cause of death among women worldwide.

kimros — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:46:03 +0000

The World Health Organization has discovered that the “AIDS virus is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44.” Indeed, “women enjoy a biological advantage because they tend to live six to eight years longer than men,” WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan pointed out. “But in many parts of the world they suffer serious disadvantages because of poverty [and] poorer access to healthcare:. The 91-page report by the organization “lays out the hurdles women face in getting the healthcare they need at various stages of life.” The report said that “accidental injuries take a toll on girls and younger women,” while “chronic diseases account for almost half of the deaths among older women.” Dr. Chan noted, however, that the “obstacles that stand in the way of better health for women are not primarily technical or medical in nature.” Rather, “they are social and political, and the two go together.” Thus, the world “will not see significant progress as long as women are regarded as second-class citizens,” Dr. Chan argued.

Fitness Levels Decline With Age, Especially After 45!!.

kimros — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:47:51 +0000

This so-called research gets the fickle finger of fate award Published in Archives of Internal Medicine. This needed research to validate it? And there are those who say we need to spend more on researc!!

M. D. Anderson Redefines Screening Guidelines for Breast, Cervical and Colorectal Cancers.

kimros — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:46:13 +0000

Drawing on years of experience in cancer research and patient care, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center released today the most comprehensive, risk-based screening guidelines publicly available to date for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers (also see the MDAC Screening Guides). The new recommendations represent the first wave of an effort by M. D. Anderson to improve the effectiveness of efforts to prevent and detect cancer at its earliest, most treatable stage by reconstructing and expanding its screening, risk reduction and diagnostic guidelines across eight disease sites. According to the American Cancer Society

New cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in 192,370 women and 40,170 will die from breast cancer
11,270 new cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed in women and 4,070 women will die from cervical cancer
New cases of colorectal cancer will be diagnosed in 106,100 men and women and 49,920 men and women will die from colorectal cancer

US Patients Five Times More Likely To Spend Last Days In ICU Than Patients In England

kimros — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:44:04 +0000

Patients who die in the hospital in the United States are almost five times as likely to have spent part of their last hospital stay in the ICU than patients in England. What’s more, over the age of 85, ICU usage among terminal patients is eight times higher in the US than in England, according to new research that compared the two countries’ use of intensive care services during final hospitalizations.

AAP: Safety Benefits of Booster Seats Reaffirmed.

kimros — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:35:28 +0000

A study released today in Pediatrics by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia offers updated evidence that children ages 4 to 8 who are restrained in the rear seat of a car in a belt-positioning booster seat are 45 percent less likely to be injured in a crash compared with children using a seat belt alone. Furthermore, the study showed there was no difference in the level of protection offered by backless versus high back booster seats. Of those riding in booster seats, children involved in side-impact crashes saw the greatest reduction in injury risk. Comment: Both stories suggest that far more education on proper use of children’s car seats is needed, both for infants and children.

Car seats can be dangerous outside the car.

kimros — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:33:56 +0000

More than 8,700 infants end up in the emergency room each year because their car seats are used improperly outside the car, according to study presented Monday at the American Academy of Pediatrics’ annual meeting in Washington. Babies are spending more time in car seats, which have saved nearly 9,000 lives in the past three decades, both in and out of the car, says author Shital Parikh, a pediatric orthopedist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Abortion And Unintended Pregnancy Decline Worldwide As Contraceptive Use Increases

kimros — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:19:32 +0000

A new report from the Guttmacher Institute identifies how improved access to family planning services has reduced the use of abortion services worldwide although problems if access to either opportunities varies widely among different countries, particularly in the developing countries..