Health Overview
December 27, 2017
Among the issues of health, year 2017 marks a stand on opiods, a
controversial painkiller with morphine-like effects in which
health officials and doctors petitioned
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take ultra-high-dosage
opioids off the market.
On the topic of life expectancy, the
averages have increased an additonal 5 years since year 2000,
females still leading males by several years.
The infant mortality rate has been reduced by 50% since
1990, although the child mortality rate (age 5 and under)
accounts for 45% of deaths during the first 4 weeks of life.
The discontinuation of tobacco
use, reduction of salt in the diet, consuming fruits and
vegetables, practice of regular physical activity, and avoiding
harmful use of alcohol has shown to reduce the risk of
noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and extend life.
The top
cause of death in the world is ischaemic
heart disease followed by stroke,
accounting for a
combined 15 million deaths per year (data compiled year 2015). 1
Tenth on the list are road injuries
which killed 1.3 million people per year, three-quarters whom
are male. 35,000 of these deaths occurred in the United
States. In addition, 750 deaths occurred by train in the
U.S. and about 400 (an all time low) by air travel. (In
percentages: 98% highway, 1% train, 1% air travel).
2, 3
Tuberculosis
has killed fewer people since year 2000, but is still among the
top 10 causes of death with a toll of around 1.4 million.
HIV/AIDS is no longer among the world’s top 10 causes of death.
According to the World Health
Organization, it is estimated there are about 2.5 million
stillborn babies in a year. Nearly all stillborn babies
are not recorded in a birth or death certificate and therefore
have never been registered, reported, or investigated by the
health system.
In
low income settings, noncommunicable diseases of cardiovascular,
cancer, diabetes, and lung disease increased over 20% since year
2000. It is said that the health care costs for these
diseases drain household resources in lower income countries.
High income countries experience the greatest suicide rate which
is 35% more than the average.
The discontinuation of tobacco
use, reduction of salt in the diet, consuming fruits and
vegetables, practice of regular physical activity, and avoiding
harmful use of alcohol has shown to reduce the risk of
noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and extend life.
This year flu activity has
been increasing in the United States, and the most frequently
identified flu virus reported is influenza A(H3). In the
U.S. alone more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from the
flu. According to the U.S. Center of Disease Control, the
flu kills about 36,000 people per year. Globally, the flu
can claim upward towards 400,000 lives per year; and in a
typical flu season, between 3 and 5 million people will have
what is considered a serious case of the flu.
Although an annual flu vaccine
is recommended as the best way to protect against influenza, it
is also cautioned the rare chance of a serious adverse reaction
to flu vaccine resulting in Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) or
Parsonage Turner Syndrome. In 1976, 1 out of every 100,000
person who had flu vaccination developed the Guillain-Barre
Syndrome. By 2017, this figure has been estimated to be 1
out of every 670,000 persons. GBS can have polio-like
symptoms, a type of paralysis lasting for several months.
Parsonage Turner Syndrome (PTS) can debilitate the entire side
of an arm-and-shoulder and take upto several years to completely
recover.
In the United States, over 40
percent of persons are nearsighted, compared to one-third of the
world’s population. However, in Asian countries, this
number can reach 80 percent. According to the National
Institute of Health, 5 to 10 percent of Americans are
farsighted although some have gauged this figure to be as high
as 60 percent.
According to the Vision
Council of America, approximately 75% of adults use some sort of
vision correction, either contacts or glasses. Over half
of women, and about 42% of men, wear glasses; and more women
than men wear contact lenses.
1.
Complete current year-to-date
health statistics are usually not readily available and follow a
one to two year
turnover for complete availability.
2.
Though road fatalities are
ranked 10th
as the greatest cause of death (and not the highest on the
list), the causes
of heart
failure, stroke, or cancer are ones usually associated with “old
age” and road deaths include people of
any age, especially of teens.
3.
For rail casualties,
two-thirds are due to trespassers, nearly a third from railroad
crossings, and only about 10
deaths
per year are from actual train accidents (derailment).
From these numbers, it is easy to reason that it is
safest to ride on a train. When the issue of train derailment
eventually resolves, train travel will be deemed 100%
safe as a mode of travel. It is no wonder why rail systems
are high on the list if man ever decides to occupy
another planet.
