James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
Just in case you needed a reminder of what's wrong with America:
For the first time since the Spanish influenza of 1918, life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American women.In nearly 1,000 counties that together are home to about 12 percent of the nation's women, life expectancy is now shorter than it was in the early 1980s, according to a study published today.
The downward trend is evident in places in the Deep South, Appalachia, the lower Midwest and in one county in Maine. It is not limited to one race or ethnicity but it is more common in rural and low-income areas. The most dramatic change occurred in two areas in southwestern Virginia (Radford City and Pulaski County), where women's life expectancy has decreased by more than five years since 1983.
The trend appears to be driven by increases in death from diabetes, lung cancer, emphysema and kidney failure. (Washington Post, April 22, 2008)
This appalling. Every American should be embarrassed. And
The phenomenon appears to be not only new but distinctly American.Full study, which appears in PLoS, is here."If you look in Western Europe, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, we don't see this," [Christopher J.L.] Murray, [a physician and epidemiologist at the University of Washington who led the study] said.
Comments
Your link is to a WaPo article, FYI. Funny, second time in 24 hours I've seen that mistake made. Hmmm... ;)
Posted by: Jp | April 22, 2008 10:27 AM
Rather depressing but interesting news. This is certainly a prime indicator for why we need comprehensive healthcare insurance for everyone.
Not sure why your link is labeled New York Times when it goes to the second page of the Washington Post article.
Posted by: chezjake | April 22, 2008 10:35 AM
I agree, depressing, but not surprising. How do we get them to change their behavior so that they won't suffer these problems? As the article points out, these are the consequences of obesity, smoking and other voluntary behaviors. The previous poster's solution of "comprehensive healthcare insurance" only treats the symptoms, not the public health cause.
Posted by: bill r | April 22, 2008 12:48 PM
Boomers have been burning the candle at both ends. I suspect that our lifestyles are begining to cacth up with us. This is probably a pattern that is going to be repeated throughout the divisons of class. Pop stars of the sixties are now dropping like flies...maybe the permissive years made us all age faster.
Posted by: stushie | April 22, 2008 11:02 PM
bill r: I used to be obese by BMI. I am now normal-weighted. I would not have been able to lose the weight and keep it off without being able regularly see a good doctor who correctly diagnosed and treated what had made me gain weight. (Hint: it wasn't doughnuts.)
To lose weight in a healthy way, people need correct, responsible information, at the very least. Without doctors, people are left to information that may not be appropriate to their particular bodies, as well as fads, misleading food labels, and pure nonsense. Support and medications can help with smoking cessation, too.
I agree that healthcare is not enough, on its own, but it is a necessity.
Posted by: c | April 22, 2008 11:49 PM
C: Congratulations on the weight loss. I'm working on that now. I agree that good advice is a necessity.
Its been a couple of decades since I was a professor of preventive medicine, but preventive medicine and nutrition aren't high on the medical school curriculum. They are, after all, schools of medicine and surgery. That is the focus, not prevention. In chats with friends/family who are in family practice and in specialties, the usual health care organization is focused on productivity and billable units, and long discussions on wellness are not encouraged.
Posted by: bill r | April 23, 2008 8:46 AM
Wasn't this predicted all along because of the increase in smoking among women - particularly lower income groups. I remember in the early "90's people saying that this was going to happen becasue the number of women smokers jumped so much.
Posted by: Markk | April 23, 2008 10:52 AM
bill r:
Thanks. You're right, of course, that many doctors don't focus on preventive care, but any decent doctor will find early warning signs when the lack of preventive care or other factors cause things to go wrong. High blood pressure would be the easiest and most automatic, but simple tests can find high cholesterol and diabetes. They've even shown that just a doctor recommending quitting smoking or losing weight prods some number of people to change.
So when people go years without medical care, and have no regular doctor keeping health records, they lose even that.
Posted by: caia | April 23, 2008 5:22 PM