Maternal Mortality Rates, Obesity Cause U.S. To Lag Behind Developed Countries On Life Expectancy
It is also the only high-income country without universal health insurance coverage and has the largest share of unmet health-care needs due to financial costs. In other public health news: vaccines, heart disease, testosterone, art therapy and post-election stress.
The Washington Post:
U.S. Life Expectancy Will Soon Be On Par With Mexico’s And The Czech Republic’s
Life expectancy at birth will continue to climb substantially for residents of industrialized nations — but not in the United States, where minimal gains will soon put life spans on par with those in Mexico and the Czech Republic, according to an extensive analysis released Tuesday. South Korean women and Hungarian men are projected to make the largest overall gains (with South Koreans second among males). There is a better-than-even chance that South Korean women will live to an average of 90 years old by 2030, which would be the first time a population will break the 90-year barrier, according to the research published in The Lancet. (Bernstein, 2/21)
Miami Herald:
Russian, Swedish Scientists Discover Artificial Compound That Slows Aging
Scientists from Lomonosov Moscow State University, working with those from Stockholm University in Sweden, have used a new compound to slow the aging process in mice. The compound is an artificial antioxidant, SkQ1, and it already is sold in Russia as part of an eye drops solution. It is still undergoing clinical trials in the U.S. (Veciana-Suarez, 2/21)
Roll Call:
One Thing Congress Agrees On: Vaccines Work
A bipartisan group of lawmakers are stressing the need to highlight benefits of vaccines amid reports of local outbreaks of infectious diseases. “The science is clear: FDA-licensed vaccines are proven to be safe and effective, and save the lives both of those who receive them and vulnerable individuals around them,” the lawmakers wrote in a Tuesday letter sent to their colleagues. “As Members of Congress, we have a critical role to play in supporting the availability and use of vaccines to protect Americans from deadly diseases.” (Bowman, 2/21)
Miami Herald:
Don't Ignore Shortness Of Breath, Lightheadness
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that anywhere from 2.7 to 6.1 million Americans suffer from atrial fibrillation and reports that more than 750,000 related hospitalizations occur annually. With 130,000 estimated deaths each year — a rate that has been rising for more than two decades — atrial fibrillation costs the United States about $6 billion each year, according to the CDC. [David] Ancona, who says that patients with superventricular tachycardia appear in the ER daily, believes prevention is key. But the nature of the disease can make that difficult. (Ogle, 2/22)
Miami Herald:
Carrie Fisher’s Death Sheds New Light On Women’s Heart Disease
For years, the National Institutes of Health, which provides most of the money for medical research, has used male mice to study heart disease. Why? Men were the primary research subjects. Women have heart disease, too. In fact, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of American women (and men). Yet heart disease death rates in the United States have declined steadily for men over the last quarter century. Not so much for women. (Cohen, 2/21)
NPR:
Testosterone Has Mixed Results On Older Men's Health
Many men over 65 with low testosterone levels say their sense of well-being, not to mention sexual function, isn't what it used to be. That's why some doctors prescribe testosterone replacement. But the effectiveness of testosterone has been controversial. Studies of the risks and benefits have been mixed, and the Food and Drug Administration beefed up its warnings about cardiac side effects of testosterone supplementation in 2015. (Neighmond, 2/21)
NPR:
Testosterone Patients Not Told About Anemia
There's a lesson about one of the testosterone studies released this week that has nothing to do with testosterone: The study on how testosterone affects anemia was designed with an ethical lapse that nobody noticed until the study was complete. That's surprising because it was designed and carried out by a couple of dozen of well-regarded scientists. Their protocols were reviewed by 12 university institutional review boards, whose job is to evaluate the ethics of an experiment. It was funded by the National Institutes of Health, and the trial was overseen by a watchdog data safety and monitoring board. But all of those safety features fell short this time. (Harris, 2/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
Karen Pence’s Advocacy For Art Therapy Stirs Controversy
As Vice President Mike Pence visited Europe to reassure world leaders, his wife, Karen Pence, pursued her own issue: promoting art therapy. At first blush, it might seem Mrs. Pence’s support for art therapy would win public backing akin to the broad support Barbara and Laura Bush received for their promotion of literacy, instead of the divisive type of response Tipper Gore got for her campaign against offensive music lyrics. But the Donald Trump era is no ordinary time. (Barnes, 2/21)
Kaiser Health News:
A New Diagnosis: ‘Post-Election Stress Disorder’
Wally Pfingsten has always been a news junkie. But since President Donald Trump was elected, he’s been so anxious about the political tumult that even just having the TV news on in the background at home is unbearable. “It’s been crippling,” said the 35-year-old San Mateo, Calif., resident and political moderate who has supported both Democratic and Republican candidates in the past. “I feel angry, really, really angry, far more angry than I expected to be. (Gold, 2/22)
