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Nevilledog

(53,250 posts)
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 09:48 AM 20 hrs ago

Life expectancy gap in U.S. widens to 20 years due to "truly alarming" health disparities, researchers say

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/life-expectancy-gap-20-years/

Life expectancy in the United States varies by more than 20 years depending on your race and ethnicity and where you live, according to new research. The authors call the level of health disparities "truly alarming."

In the study, published Thursday in The Lancet, researchers analyzed death records from the National Vital Statistics System and population estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics from 2000 to 2021.

Large disparities in life expectancy were apparent throughout the study period but grew more substantial over time, particularly during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors noted.

"The extent and magnitude of health disparities in American society are truly alarming in a country with the wealth and resources of the USA," senior author Christopher J.L. Murray said in a news release. "These disparities reflect the unequal and unjust distribution of resources and opportunities that have profound consequences on well-being and longevity, especially in marginalized populations."

*snip*
40 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Life expectancy gap in U.S. widens to 20 years due to "truly alarming" health disparities, researchers say (Original Post) Nevilledog 20 hrs ago OP
Equitable health care in the USA? Diamond_Dog 20 hrs ago #1
Equitable health care is like equal justice under the law. LudwigPastorius 15 hrs ago #21
Yep Diamond_Dog 15 hrs ago #22
I have 400-lbs patients with their teeth rotting out of the heads Aristus 20 hrs ago #2
Gatorade -- it's got electrolytes! Zorro 20 hrs ago #3
I've actually had patients say that to me. Aristus 20 hrs ago #5
No Gatorade! But try to design a menu that meets potassium requirements rainin 18 hrs ago #14
Bananas, cantaloupe, apricots, lentils, kidney beans, Aristus 12 hrs ago #23
Getting a list of "high" potassium foods is elementary. Creating a menu that actually provides enough rainin 9 hrs ago #30
Well, I don't know what to tell you. Aristus 9 hrs ago #32
See reply 33. highplainsdem 9 hrs ago #34
It is hard to get the recommended levels in diet Meowmee 8 hrs ago #37
Except for bananas, those aren't foods Americans are likely to eat almost daily. A baked potato with skin, highplainsdem 9 hrs ago #33
So: easily accessible and palatable potassium. Aristus 9 hrs ago #35
Yes. Most people, I've found, automatically think of bananas for potassium and stop there, and never highplainsdem 9 hrs ago #36
True, unless they live on Top Ramen and Cup-O-Noodles. Exp 18 hrs ago #16
Idiocracy comes to life Stuckinthebush 20 hrs ago #6
It is a Polkyannaish fairytale and we can only hope TheKentuckian 12 hrs ago #26
Nice analysis. Stuckinthebush 10 hrs ago #28
It's what plants crave! EYESORE 9001 20 hrs ago #8
Totally agree. talking-liberally 18 hrs ago #18
The great tragedy of this country is the way... ananda 12 hrs ago #24
Darwin serves a useful purpose Bluetus 12 hrs ago #27
Except that these are my patients and I love them. Aristus 9 hrs ago #29
I didn't take the hippocratic oath. :) Bluetus 7 hrs ago #38
You dont get to 400 lbs drinking gatorade and most fat people go for coke etc.. berkerly6240 7 hrs ago #39
No. There's more to it than that. Don't get hung up on the Gatorade. Aristus 7 hrs ago #40
Wealthy areas attract more and better doctors and medical facilities bucolic_frolic 20 hrs ago #4
That's a feature in zero sum/ownership capitalism, not a bug. haele 20 hrs ago #7
The National Institute of Health says that 42 percent of American adults are obese or severely obese. LaMouffette 20 hrs ago #9
I pretty much live on junk food and I have never been overweight Skittles 9 hrs ago #31
Maybe the Federal government should have banned menthol cigarettes instead of stalling for a over a decade MichMan 19 hrs ago #10
FDA Old Okie 18 hrs ago #12
The FDA does not require the approval of Congress to ban menthol cigarettes MichMan 18 hrs ago #15
Affordable Care might turn out to be a BFD. Let's ask that nice young man Obama before his hair goes gray Hekate 18 hrs ago #11
Imagine what it's going to be when Brain Worm and his conspiracy goons ban vaccines. Initech 18 hrs ago #13
The Pine Ridge Reservation markodochartaigh 18 hrs ago #17
That's the real gap Johnny2X2X 17 hrs ago #19
Not surprising, area51 16 hrs ago #20
Republicans knew Blue Full Moon 12 hrs ago #25

LudwigPastorius

(10,805 posts)
21. Equitable health care is like equal justice under the law.
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 02:51 PM
15 hrs ago

In this country those are nice ideas, but nothing more than that.

Aristus

(68,357 posts)
2. I have 400-lbs patients with their teeth rotting out of the heads
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 09:56 AM
20 hrs ago

who drink gallons of Gatorade every day because TV commercials and NFL millionaires say it’s good for them.

There’s some bubble-headed Tik-Tokker out there saying smoking isn’t bad for you if you keep a positive attitude about it.

I try with all my might to educate my patients. But advertising is winning this battle.

Greedy corporations are killing Americans before their time, and using their billions to snare the next generation of consumers.

Aristus

(68,357 posts)
5. I've actually had patients say that to me.
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 10:10 AM
20 hrs ago

I don’t know if they’ve seen Idiocracy or not; probably not. But they do spout the advertising slogans.

I reply: “Name an electrolyte!”

They don’t know.

I reassure them that it’s not their job to know; it’s mine. And you get all the electrolytes you need from your food. Stay away from the sports beverage poisons, and get your health back.

rainin

(3,170 posts)
14. No Gatorade! But try to design a menu that meets potassium requirements
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 12:00 PM
18 hrs ago

You probably can't. Then, try to create a menu that meets potassium requirements for a typical calorie restricted diet of 1200 calories. You definitely can't.

It's a problem

Aristus

(68,357 posts)
23. Bananas, cantaloupe, apricots, lentils, kidney beans,
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:10 PM
12 hrs ago

squash, raisins.

That enough, or do those goalposts need to be moved?

But what do I know? I’ve only been practicing clinical medicine for fifteen years.

rainin

(3,170 posts)
30. Getting a list of "high" potassium foods is elementary. Creating a menu that actually provides enough
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 09:15 PM
9 hrs ago

potassium to meet the daily requirements is another story. The assignment was never to just list a few foods that contain potassium. If you actually added up the amount you get and how much you would have to eat, you'd quickly find it's all but impossible to achieve the daily requirement.

I respect that you have considerable knowledge from practicing clinical medicine for 15 years. But, you have clearly never actually made a menu that meets the daily requirements for potassium. It's a different assignment than just listing some foods.

I know it's hard, because I've tried to do it with actual food.

Aristus

(68,357 posts)
32. Well, I don't know what to tell you.
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 09:23 PM
9 hrs ago

I’ve had a million patients shoot down treatment plans that they couldn’t be bothered to adhere to. They must have thought I had some kind of Harry Potter magic wand to make all their afflictions go away.

Waking up to the reality that adhering to a treatment plan requires commitment is tough for some patients. Bottom line.

Meowmee

(5,515 posts)
37. It is hard to get the recommended levels in diet
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 10:15 PM
8 hrs ago

Most can get by with 1000 mg a day. But recommendations are 2-3000 mg daily. A banana is only 9% daily, a medium potato is 15% daily. Depending on your health issues people can supplement but should also ask a doc first if it is safe for them to do that. There are so many things that affect it, and not everyone digests/ absorbs food or supplements the same way due to health issues.

highplainsdem

(52,367 posts)
33. Except for bananas, those aren't foods Americans are likely to eat almost daily. A baked potato with skin,
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 09:25 PM
9 hrs ago

OTOH, is 900 mg of potassium

Oranges are also good. And tomatoes. A medium banana, orange or tomato should each have a few hundred mg of potassium.

So does a cup of milk.

So three cups of milk, a potato, an orange, a banana and a tomato would get you around 3,000 mg of potassium. Much more typical in the diets of people I know than apricots, lentils and squash.

highplainsdem

(52,367 posts)
36. Yes. Most people, I've found, automatically think of bananas for potassium and stop there, and never
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 09:33 PM
9 hrs ago

consider such basics as potatoes, milk and tomatoes.

Orange juice is also great for potassium, but whole fruit is always better than juice.

TheKentuckian

(26,231 posts)
26. It is a Polkyannaish fairytale and we can only hope
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:24 PM
12 hrs ago

for leadership as eager to help their people and seek out and listen to expertise as President Comacho.

We hit and now have greatly overshot mere Idiocracy so sort of but not really because we aren't as fortunate as the Brawndo crowd.

18. Totally agree.
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 12:39 PM
18 hrs ago

As a PT, I work closely with patients to try to resolve injuries by changing how they use their bodies. It's not easy. Especially when drug companies and doctors with offer quick solutions such as drugs, surgery, or injections. Fortunately, I work in a well educated area and they have a healthy skepticism of invasive solutions. Sometimes they are needed but not as often as is being done.

My hunch would be that the education level and life style of the person has more impact than the health care that's available. People in blue zones live 10-12 years longer than Americans. They are not wealthy areas, just healthy lifestyle.

I am very concerned with RFK's attitude on vaccines but other types of prevention is one area that he might be able to make some progress. Probably not because the money (and therefor drumpf) goes with fixing problems, not preventing them.

The benefits of a plant based diet is an area that is not being spoken of either.

Thank you for your post. You make a great point.

ananda

(30,820 posts)
24. The great tragedy of this country is the way...
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:14 PM
12 hrs ago

so many vulnerable, gullible people have become
addicted to disinformation and false advertising.

I guess they have been led to distrust science
and experts who tell the truth.

They pay a heavy price for it, while the people
distributing what they see and read laugh alll
the way to the bank.

Bluetus

(101 posts)
27. Darwin serves a useful purpose
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:28 PM
12 hrs ago

If Biden had not taken such a strong stand on vaccinations when COVID was raging, that would easily have provided the margin Harris needed.

Maybe we are better off letting Darwin have his way.

Aristus

(68,357 posts)
29. Except that these are my patients and I love them.
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 09:00 PM
9 hrs ago

I want them to get better, even the MAGA people. It’s what distinguishes me from the MAGAts.

Bluetus

(101 posts)
38. I didn't take the hippocratic oath. :)
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 10:53 PM
7 hrs ago

And I respect all the medical people who do honor that code, regardless of a person's ethnicity, education level, economic status, or tendency toward self-destruction. However, we also learned there were hundreds of thousands of people in the medical profession who didn't give a shit about protecting people during COVID.

Personally, I would have a lot of trouble going the extra mile for a person who spent a lifetime making all the worst decisions, bringing on their own demise or bad fortune.

On a serious note, if we could set aside the ethical questions for just a moment, I do think there is a legitimate argument that there is a significant risk in intervening with people who are too foolish to come in from the rain. I mean, evolution depends on those with the better assets (judgment, intelligence, whatever) having a higher survival rate. When we intervene, we really are messing with evolutionary process. I know medical ethics don't leave any room for such thinking, but I do believe it is worth pondering, in the same sense that one ponders whether the beat of a single butterfly could alter the course of the universe.

berkerly6240

(28 posts)
39. You dont get to 400 lbs drinking gatorade and most fat people go for coke etc..
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 11:34 PM
7 hrs ago

Maybe they tell you they're drinking gatorade.



Aristus

(68,357 posts)
40. No. There's more to it than that. Don't get hung up on the Gatorade.
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 11:40 PM
7 hrs ago

It’s just one factor among many.

It’s okay. I’ve been doing this for a long time…

haele

(13,526 posts)
7. That's a feature in zero sum/ownership capitalism, not a bug.
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 10:13 AM
20 hrs ago

Doesn't matter how hard-working one is, how smart, how courageous, how artistic, how honest, how caring - it doesn't matter how good a person is, it's about how much position and resources one can buy.
Ya, I'm observing cynically.

But if you assign a monetary cost up front on everything - including individuality, dignity and the basic requirements for survival - you separate all the other types of values from those things along with all existing creatures struggling to survive.

The question to life breaks down as how value is determined and who determines it.
And I guess the good people of US no are learning the difference between an egalitarian (open access) based regulated capitalist system they thought they were voting for and the plantation/ownership (closed access) capitalist system they actually voted for the hard way.

Haele

LaMouffette

(2,269 posts)
9. The National Institute of Health says that 42 percent of American adults are obese or severely obese.
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 10:44 AM
20 hrs ago

The National Literacy Institute says that 54 percent of Americans read at a 6th grade level. Coincidence?

Not only are Americans subjected to the food industry's blatant disregard for the effects of their fat- and sugar-laden products, but a large percentage of Americans are not receiving an adequate education to be able to read and interpret nutrition labels and other nutritional information out there that could greatly improve their health. Plus, the fatty, sugary stuff in grocery stores and at fast-food restaurants is cheaper and requires less preparation than the good stuff. Many, if not most, people who are working their asses off at low-paying jobs do not have the time or the money to prepare nutritious meals.

Corporate profits, the wealth gap, and the war on public education are literally killing us off.


https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity]

https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2024-2025-where-we-are-now#:~:text=On%20average%2C%2079%25%20of%20U.S.,below%205th%2Dgrade%20level).

Skittles

(159,374 posts)
31. I pretty much live on junk food and I have never been overweight
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 09:22 PM
9 hrs ago

I do however move - a LOT, about 18,000 - 20000 steps a day. It always amazes me when I hear people say they don't have time to exercise but they have time to binge-watch all kinds of streaming crap.

MichMan

(13,194 posts)
10. Maybe the Federal government should have banned menthol cigarettes instead of stalling for a over a decade
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 11:01 AM
19 hrs ago

In 2009, the FDA banned all flavored cigarettes, but exempted menthol.

Non-Hispanic Black or African American people who smoke cigarettes, regardless of age, are more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes than people of other races or ethnicities who smoke cigarettes.16 It is estimated that between 1980 – 2018, 1.5 million African Americans began smoking menthol cigarettes and 157,000 African Americans died prematurely because of menthol cigarettes.

In 2018, 51.4% of non-Hispanic Black and 50.6% of Hispanic high school and middle school students who smoked used menthol cigarettes, compared to 42.8% of non-Hispanic White youth.

In 2018-2019, approximately 70% of Black or African American adults 18-34 years old who currently smoked cigarettes used menthol cigarettes, compared to 39% of White adults in that same age group.


https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/menthol-tobacco/health-disparities.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/menthol/related-health-disparities.html

Proposed again in 2022, yet 2 years later, still no action.

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is announcing proposed product standards to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and prohibit all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco) in cigars. These actions have the potential to significantly reduce disease and death from combusted tobacco product use, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., by reducing youth experimentation and addiction, and increasing the number of smokers that quit.

“The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.”

These proposed product standards are based on clear science and evidence establishing the addictiveness and harm of these products and build on the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which prohibited all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco and menthol) in cigarettes in 2009. They are also a critical piece of the Administration’s reignited Cancer Moonshot to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years; tobacco use is a leading cause of cancer and death from cancer, and approximately 30 percent of all cancer deaths in the United States are caused by smoking.


https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-proposes-rules-prohibiting-menthol-cigarettes-and-flavored-cigars-prevent-youth-initiation

Old Okie

(194 posts)
12. FDA
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 11:52 AM
18 hrs ago

Well, if you look a little deeper you will find pressure on FDA from Congress supported by tobacco money that keeps them from doing what they would like to do. It was a major battle to even get FDA authority to regulate tobacco products. So like most things; it comes down to getting corporate money out of politics.

Hekate

(94,665 posts)
11. Affordable Care might turn out to be a BFD. Let's ask that nice young man Obama before his hair goes gray
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 11:49 AM
18 hrs ago

And that experienced old fella named Joe who works with him.


Initech

(101,944 posts)
13. Imagine what it's going to be when Brain Worm and his conspiracy goons ban vaccines.
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 11:59 AM
18 hrs ago

And instate all the other stupid, unproven bullshit like raw milk that he's been peddling. WTF.

markodochartaigh

(2,065 posts)
17. The Pine Ridge Reservation
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 12:34 PM
18 hrs ago

has the second lowest life expectancy in the Western Hemisphere, 48 for men and 52 for women.

And, regardless of race, life expectancy is almost 15 years less for the poorest than for the wealthiest, with the poorest having life expectancy close to Pakistan or Sudan.



https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2016/11/2/life-on-the-pine-ridge-native-american-reservation


https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/04/for-life-expectancy-money-matters/

Johnny2X2X

(21,758 posts)
19. That's the real gap
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 12:48 PM
17 hrs ago

Wealth.

Poor people are being fed garbage and rich people can afford healthier diets and haqve the time to exercise.

Blue Full Moon

(1,165 posts)
25. Republicans knew
Fri Nov 22, 2024, 06:23 PM
12 hrs ago

Rob Portman,director of the Office of Management and Budget, had found out most Americans die before they could receive retirement. Lack of health care was the reason. So, Portman told companies to reduce the amount that they pay by 20%. There you go republicans only care about money.
It was reported by the Washington Post during the Bush Jr administration.

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