According to STAT News, “Americans born in 2021 can expect to live for just 76.1 years — the lowest life expectancy has been since 1996, according to a new government analysis published Wednesday. This is the biggest two-year decline — 2.7 years in total — in almost 100 years.” It’s only going to get worse too.
Category Archive: Patient Wellness
According to a new report, life expectancy in the United States took another hit in 2021, furthering a dramatic decline from 2020 that was the largest since World War II.
Healthy eating is your recipe for managing diabetes.
More than 37 million Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and approximately 90-95% have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people over age 45, but more and more children, teens, and young adults are also developing it. A study has found that people with type 2 diabetes were at higher risk of developing 57 health conditions than non-diabetics.
Mental illnesses are common in the United States. Nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (52.9 million in 2020). Mental illnesses include many different conditions that vary in severity, ranging from mild to moderate to severe. Suicidal ideation continues to increase among adults in the U.S. 4.58% of adults report having serious thoughts of suicide, an increase of 664,000 people from last year’s dataset. The national rate of suicidal ideation among adults has increased every year since 2011-2012.
American healthcare is the most expensive globally, but it’s not close to being the best. Our healthcare system has become like a mass-market retailer, in the door to treat the problem and out the door with an Rx or other treatment recommendation. What’s missing is the basic premise of any good care: the focus on the person, not just the condition.
(Washington Post) Obesity turned out to be a major risk factor for covid hospitalization and death, especially non-elderly. According to the CDC, it is linked to impaired immune function and decreased lung capacity; it can make ventilation more difficult. Once again, obesity indicates that it’s killing us.
SUMMARY: In a recent study by The Harris Poll on behalf of TIME, the overwhelming majority of Americans (78%) admitted to delaying routine medical services and health care appointments due to the coronavirus pandemic. The health care industry should invest more in patient outreach, communication and education.
WHAT’S GOING ON: (Times) Rejecting the advice of its scientific advisers, the federal government has released new dietary recommendations that sound a familiar nutritional refrain, advising Americans to “make every bite count” but dismissing experts’ specific recommendations to set new low targets for consumption of sugar and alcoholic beverages. American adults consume an average of 77 grams of sugar per day, more than 3 times the recommended amount for women. This adds up to around 60 pounds of added sugar annually – that’s six, 10-pound bowling balls.