Archive for the 'Health, Disability & Mortality' Category

Health, United States, 2009
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

From Press Release:

The use of medical technology in the United States increased dramatically between 1996 and 2006, according to “Health, United States, 2009,” the federal government’s 33rd annual report to the President and Congress on the health of all Americans.

The report was prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics from data gathered by state and federal health agencies and through ongoing national surveys.

This year’s edition features a special section on medical technology, and finds that the rate of magnetic resonance imaging, known as MRI, and computed and positron emission tomography or CT/PET scans, ordered or provided, tripled between 1996 and 2007.

Health, United States, 2009 Home Page. Includes complete report, executive summary, highlights, charts, and trend tables.

Trends in Breast Cancer Mortality in the United States
By: Rogelio Saenz
Source: Population Reference Bureau

Recent recommendations from the U.S. government suggesting a relaxation in the age women should begin undergoing regular mammography exams have raised major debate and concerns.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Preventive Services Task Force recommends that women in their 40s forego routine mammography exams until they turn 50, at which time they should have the procedure done every two years. The report came on the heels of a debate in the medical community initiated months earlier with the publication of an article that suggested the benefits of early mammography screening were exaggerated, with false-positive detections too easily disregarded.
Critics of the report have accused the task force of using cold cost/benefit analyses that could potentially overturn the reductions in breast cancer deaths over the last couple of decades. Many fear that the recommendations represent the rationing of health care and that the health insurance industry will use the new guidelines to block access to mammography exams to women younger than 50.
According to the American Cancer Society, death rates associated with breast cancer have declined since 1990 at about 2 percent per year for women 50 and older and 3.2 percent annually among those younger than 50. Early detection of breast cancer through regular mammograms has been credited as one of the primary reasons behind the declining death rate from breast cancer.
Despite the decline, the disease continues to inflict a heavy toll on women in the United States. In 2009, approximately 40,000 women are expected to die from breast cancer, while roughly 192,000 women are expected to be diagnosed with the disease. There are also substantial race and ethnic gaps in breast cancer mortality rates, which could potentially increase under the newly proposed guidelines.

Full report

Improving Effectiveness and Outcomes for the Poor in Health, Nutrition and Population
Source: World Bank

The World Bank Group’s support for health, nutrition, and population (HNP) has been sustained since 1997—totaling $17 billion in country-level support by the World Bank and $873 million in private health and pharmaceutical investments by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) through mid-2008. This report evaluates the efficacy of the Bank Group’s direct support for HNP to developing countries since 1997 and draws lessons to help improve the effectiveness of this support.

Click here to download Project Performance Assessment Reports for these countries

The State of Health in the American Workforce
By: Kerstin Aumann and Ellen Galinsky
Source: Families and Work Institute

In the midst of the most vigorous national health care debate in 15 years, and at a time of heightened economic insecurity, new data on employers show that the health of employed American workers is trending downward in a number of important areas. The State of Health in the American Workforce, a report released today by the Families and Work Institute (FWI), finds that only 28% of employees today report that their overall health is “excellent,” down from 34% just six years ago. Perhaps surprisingly, men’s overall health has declined more rapidly than women’s. The report also sheds light on the relationship between an effective workplace and employee health, underlining the significant role that employers play beyond providing health insurance and wellness programs.

Full text (PDF)