Why does the US spend the most money on health care, yet still have one of the smallest projections of life of any advanced country? (Exactly $9,400 per capita, 79 times and 31.)
maybe we, who work in healthcare, have had to frown for too long.
Healthy life and life
Harvard experimenters T.H. The Chan School of Public Health conducted a large study on the impact of health habits on life expectancy, using data from the renowned Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and the Specialist Nurses Follow-up Study. Healthcare (HPFS). This means they have data on a large number of people over a very long period. The NHS included more than 78,000 women and followed them from 1980 to 2014. HPFS included more than 40,000 men and followed them from 1986 to 2014. This represents over 120,000 actors, 34 times the data for women and 28 times for men.
The testers looked at NHS and HPFS data on diet, physical activity, body weight, smoking, and alcohol intake collected from regularly administered valid questionnaires.
What exactly is healthy living? These five areas were chosen because previous studies have shown they have a large impact on the risk of untimely mortality. Here’s how these healthy habits are defined and measured
1. A healthy diet, calculated and evaluated based on reported amounts of healthy foods such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, healthy fats, and omega-3 fatty acids, and unhealthy foods like red and recycled meats, sugary drinks, candy, trans fats, and sodium.
2. Healthy exertion posture, as measured at least 30 times per day with moderate to vigorous daily exertion.
3. Healthy body weight, defined as a normal body mass index (BMI), between 18.5 and 24.9.
4. Smoking is, well, no healthy amount of smoking. “Healthy” then means never smoking.
5. Moderate alcohol consumption, measured between 5-15 grams per day for women and 5-30 grams per day for men. In general, one drink contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol. That’s 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. The experimenters also examined data on age, race, and drug use, as well as comparative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys and extensive online data from an epidemiological survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Does healthy living make a difference? It turns out that healthy habits make a big difference. According to this analysis, people who met the criteria for all 5 habits had a significantly longer life expectancy than those who did not have 14 times for women and 12 times for men (if they had these habits). this at age 50). People who don’t have these habits are more likely to die early from cancer or cardiovascular disease. The study’s investigators also calculated life expectancy based on these five healthy habits. Just one healthy habit (and it doesn’t take any bones into account) just doubles life expectancy for both men and women. As you might expect, the more healthy habits people have, the longer they live. This is one of those situations where I wish I could create their graphics for you because they are so cool. (But if you’re curious, the component is available online and the charts are at number 7. See Chart B, “Estimated life expectancy at age 50 by low-threat factor number.”)
It is very large. And, it confirms previous similar discoveries – a lot of similar discoveries before that. A 2017 study using data from the Health and Retirement Study found that people aged 50 and older who were normal weight, never smoked, and drank in moderation lived an average of seven times longer. A large 2012 analysis of 15 cross-country studies including more than 500,000 actors found that more than half of unseasonal deaths were due to unhealthy lifestyle factors such as poor diet, sedentary, rotten, drinking too much alcohol, and smoking. And the list of supporting discoveries goes on.
So what is our (big) problem? As the authors of this study point out, in the United States we tend to spend huge sums of money developing complex drugs and other disease treatments, rather than trying to help. they. That is a big problem.
Experts have suggested that the best way to help people adopt healthy diets and change their lives is on a large scale, the location of the population, through public health and change. policy. (Like the motorcycle helmet and seat belt law) We’ve made quite a bit of progress on tobacco and trans fat laws.
Of course, there was a lot of denial from high attendees about this. However, big companies won’t sell a lot of fast food, or chips if we have rules and regulations that help us live healthier. And for corporations that try to create tycoons at the expense of their lives, that infuriates them.