On the Economic Burden of Health Inequities

The Joint Center for Economic and Political Studies, a leading think-tank on health inequities and the SDOH (they co-sponsored Unnatural Causes), commissioned a paper on the economic burden of health inequities. The paper, produced via a collaboration between researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Michigan is available open-access here (PDF). Here is the delightfully succinct Executive Summary:

We estimated the economic burden of health disparities in the United States using three measures: (1) direct medical costs of health inequalities, (2) indirect costs of health inequalities, and (3) costs of premature death. Our analysis found:

Burn victims exposed to superbug

Did you know?

On healthzone.ca, you can view a map of walk-in clinics in your area

In the past two years, 28 burn patients were sent to hospitals in New York State because there were not enough beds in Ontario and nearly all of them returned infected with the deadly superbug MRSA, according to Canada's largest burn centre.

Patients with severe burns and open wounds are vulnerable to blood infections, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a hospital superbug that can cause nasty complications and lengthen hospital stays. MRSA is a strain of S. aureus that is resistant to a large group of antibiotics.

Keeping Your Brain Trained

One of the most complex organs in the human body is the brain. It holds our memories, hopes and dreams. As we age, so does our brain.

It does not, however, have to age badly, because, like our body, if we take care of our brain it will last a little longer.

One of the things that researchers say can ward off or may mitigate dementia in older people is to constantly keep thinking and using their minds.

It is never too late to pull out a crossword puzzle and give your brain a challenge.

"Basically, there is some research that the brain can continue to form new connections even when you are older, so the best way to do that is to give your brain something to work on," said Anne Glass, assistant director at the Institute of Gerontology at the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia.

Animal/human hybrids, saviour siblings OK in UK

In an overwelming vote, Britain's House of Commons has voted to allow the creation of animal/human hybrids and paved the way for tissue from the mentally ill and Alzheimer's patients to be used in the experiments.

The vote was 355 to 129.

The controversial Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was only able to pass after sections that would liberalize access to abortion were set aside following a wave of protest. The new abortion laws could now be delayed up to two years.

A last minute amendment to the bill would allow researchers to take tissue from the infirm to create the animal/human hybrids, which would then be used for medical research.

Canada under attack

Canada's health care system came under attack in Las Vegas this afternoon at the Health Care Globalization Summit.

Sally Pipes, a Canadian researcher and writer who has long been a critic of health care in Canada, said the system is expensive and leads to long waiting lists.

"We have rationed care. We are told that at a certain age there are some procedures you can't get," she told the conference. She relayed the story of her aging mother, who was told she was too old to get an MRI. "This is not the kind of care Americans want," she said.

She was also sharply critical of the health care plans of the two Democratic presidential candidates, saying both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing plans for universal care that will one day lead to Canadian-style single-payer (ie, government) medicine.

Experts: Over-55s Should Take Blood Pressure Drugs

Everyone aged 55 and over should be taking drugs to lower their blood pressure, even if their current reading is normal, an expert said.

Publishing a review of almost 150 studies, Professor Malcolm Law said the drugs lowered the risk of heart attack, heart failure and stroke, regardless of somebody's current reading.

He and colleagues published their findings from the largest review yet of clinical trials involving blood pressure drugs in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

They found most types of drugs to treat blood pressure had similar effects, cutting the risk of heart attacks and heart failure by around a quarter and the risk of stroke by about a third.

Hard choices loom on health care

One of the unwritten rules of provincial budgeting is that medicare is sacrosanct.

Governments may warn that health spending is growing at an unsustainable rate. They may promise to rein it in. But they almost never do.

When the Liberals took power five years ago, they told Ontarians: "Health-care costs cannot continue to grow faster than the economy. This can only lead to the continued crowding out of available funding for other priorities."

They vowed to curb the rate of increase in their first budget. At that time, Ontario was spending $28.1 billion a year – 38 cents out of every tax dollar – on health care. Today, the province is spending $40.5 billion a year – 42 cents out of every tax dollar – on health care.

How to Prevent Osteoarthritis With a Healthy Diet

It may not be great for your breath, but according to researchers at King's College, in London, a diet rich in garlic, onions and leeks could reduce your risk of developing the most common form of arthritis. According to the findings of the study, women who ate a lot of allium vegetables (those in the garlic family) had significantly lower incidence of hip osteoarthritis (OA).

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in adults. One in two Americans will get some form of OA in their lifetime – or 27 million adults. Women are more likely to develop it than men. OA is a painful joint disease that can place severe limits on daily activity and the quality of life. OA, which is the most common form of arthritis, often causes weakness and disability, interferes with people’s ability to work, and results in costly joint replacements.

How the waiting lists work

Matching donor and recipient is an inexact science, but it does lean heavily on mathematics.

When an organ becomes available in Ontario, a complex computer program uses blood type, age, body size, genetics, medical severity, presence of certain antibodies (protein substances made by the body’s immune system) length of time on the waiting list and geographic area to select the most suitable people at the top of the lists.

There is a significant amount of scientific judgment at play,” says Frank Markel, president of Trillium Gift of Life, the provincial agency that oversees the procurement, distribution and delivery of donated organs and tissue.

Access to health care

The Ontario Physicians Poverty Working Group has released a controversial new study that is sparking a fair bit of interest.

In it, the doctors chronicle the poorer health of those with lower income, saying they have less access to the health care system. Canada's universal medicare, they say, is not really all that universal. It's more accessible for the rich, so the rich have better health. They can also eat better and exercise more, so they stay healthier.

That's an over simplification, but you get the idea. It's an argument that's been made before, and few that I have seen seem to be questioning that the richer you are the healthier you are likely to be.

Learn to Love Your Cardio

Cardio workouts are essential to your health, fitness, and well-being. The problem is that most people don't really enjoy doing cardio exercises. Personal trainer Rob Land (admittedly a cardio junkie himself) explains why you need cardiovascular exercise, how to get your cardio workouts, and how you might just come to love them as much as he does.

Rob gets to the gym in the morning at a time many people still consider "nighttime." He runs. He's on the elliptical. He bikes.

"I don't have a good day unless I exercise," he said with a shrug on a recent Friday.

On a good day, Land can cram in about four hours of cardiovascular exercise -- and still wishes he had time for six.

Toothpaste "Breakthrough" For Sensitive Teeth?

Dental News

Colgate-Palmolive has introduced a new toothpaste called "Colgate* Sensitive Pro-Relief" which for people who suffer from tooth sensitivity. Colgate* Sensitive Pro-Relief is currently available only in major retailers across Canada.

Colgate-Palmolive claims that the new Colgate* Sensitive Pro-Relief is the first and only toothpaste clinically proven to deliver instant and lasting sensitivity relief. While most of the sensitive toothpastes currently marketed primarily numb sensitivity pain, Colgate* Sensitive Pro-Relief formula effectively plugs the channels that lead to sensitive tooth nerves, thereby blocking the transmission of heat, cold, air and pressure that stimulate pain receptors within teeth.

Symptoms & Prevention Of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

You first notice your fingers have a sensation as if they are “falling asleep” and then at night they become numb. When you wake in the morning, they are tingling and numb, and maybe there’s a burning pain and a numb feeling running up the middle of your forearm -- sometimes as far up as your shoulder. At first you think you might have slept on your arm and you try not to worry too much. But the symptoms start developing during the day and now you’re wondering – could this be arthritis?

The answer is -- NO. All these symptoms indicate you have Carpel tunnel syndrome (CTS). CTS is a chronic irritation that occurs when the median nerve in the arm becomes compressed and pushes against the ligament above it.  When it’s constantly constricted it can deteriorate. This results in a marked slowing of nerve impulses, which can cause loss of feeling in the fingers and a loss of strength and coordination at the base of the thumb.

Stroke patients 12% more likely to die if admitted on weekend

Stroke victims are 12 per cent more likely to die within seven days if they arrive at the hospital on the weekend, according to a study of more than 20,000 Ontario patients.

The study, published today in Neurology, found that patients received the same major interventions — brain scans, clot-busting medications and admission to stroke units — regardless of when they were admitted.

Dr. Moira Kapral, a researcher at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and one of the study’s authors, says it is possible that the weekend effect is caused by “an accumulation of small deficiencies in care” — including secondary treatment that is nonetheless crucial for recovery.