Why Americans are dying earlier than their international peers
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Thursday, November 24, 2022 19:21
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I admit, this one came as a shock to me:Quote:
Despite spending more per person on health care than any other country, Americans are getting sicker and dying younger than our international peers -- a problem persisting across all ages and both genders, according to a new report.
In 2011, the National Research Council found life expectancy in the United States was increasing at a slower rate than in other high-income democracies. Shortly after, the NRC and Institute Of Medicine convened a panel of experts to investigate why.
The panel was given 18 months to review recent health studies from 16 "peer countries": Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The panel released its report, titled "U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health," on Wednesday.
"Our panel was unprepared for the gravity of the finding we uncovered," chair Steven Woolf wrote in the report's preface. "We hope that others will take notice."
This is not a new problem, Woolf noted on a conference call about the report. "It's been going on since 1980 and it's getting progressively worse."
Data from 2007 show Americans' life expectancy is 3.7 years shorter for men and 5.2 years shorter for women than in the leading nations -- Switzerland for men and Japan for women.
As of 2011, 27 countries had higher life expectancies at birth than the United States.
"The tragedy is not that the United States is losing a contest with other countries," the report states, "but that Americans are dying and suffering from illness and injury at rates that are demonstrably unnecessary."
The report outlines nine health areas where the United States lags behind other rich nations, including infant mortality, homicides, teen pregnancy, drug-related deaths, obesity and disabilities.
Americans have the highest prevalence of AIDS in the group. Seniors are at a greater risk of developing and dying from heart disease. And our children are less likely than children in peer countries to reach their fifth birthday.
It's easy to point a finger at our health care system, which unlike comparison countries' does not provide universal coverage. As a result, lower income and less educated people often receive poorer care.
"The U.S. health system is highly fragmented, with limited public health and primary care resources and a large uninsured population," the authors wrote. "Compared with people in other countries, Americans are more likely to find care inaccessible or unaffordable."
But the panel says that's not all that's to blame. Studies show even white, insured, college-educated Americans are sicker than their peers in Europe.
The experts gave three other possible causes for the country's growing health disadvantage:
Though Americans know what's "good" for them, few act on it. Although we are less likely to smoke and drink heavily than our peers, we consume more calories, have higher rates of drug abuse, are less likely to use seat belts and are more likely to use guns in acts of violence, according to the report.
Most high-income countries report income and education disparities in their health care system. But the panel said Americans benefit much less from social programs that could negate the effects of poverty.
"In countries with the most favorable health outcomes, resource investments and infrastructure often reflect a strong societal commitment to the health and welfare of the entire population," the report states.
Our environment is also a big contributor to Americans' poor health, the panel said. U.S. communities are built around automobiles, discouraging physical activity and increasing traffic accidents. Contraceptives are only available by prescript
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I think it's more likely that you're too busy shooting each other???
With the grace of age, commander, we learn to accept.
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Not that far off the mark, even tho' I know you're joking (partly at least!). They DID mention homicides, but what proportion of those contribute to the deaths...
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Well, one cannot discount the crap which corporate america allows to be produced as "food" too - a considerable amount of stuff, like HFCS, or some of our neurotoxic sweeteners, would be rejected overseas.
I about hit the freakin ROOF when they started adding HFCS to friggin bread, you know there's brands which now ADVERTISE the fact that they DON'T add HFCS to theirs ?
And thanks be for that, or I'd have to make my own!
Cause, well... Bologna and Cheese on lightly toasted bread, that NEVER gets old.
(of course, TRY finding Bologna, OR Cheese these days without HFCS, it's getting hard as hell!)
-Frem
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Quote:
Originally posted by peacekeeper:
I think it's more likely that you're too busy shooting each other???
With the grace of age, commander, we learn to accept.
I know it's just a snark, but it's not that far off, really. 30,000+ gun deaths in this country every year, year in and year out - that has to make an impact on the longevity index when that many people are dying early from unnatural causes.
"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero
"I was wrong" - Hero, 2012
Mitt Romney, introducing his running mate: "Join me in welcoming the next President of the United States, Paul Ryan!"
Rappy's response? "You're lying, gullible ( believing in some BS you heard on msnbc ) or hard of hearing."
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I think the primary cause is, as Frem said, all the crap in our food supply, artificial things, genetically modified plants, chemicals go leor. Secondarily I would agree that our health care system has a lot to be desired for many Americans, we've all heard, and some of us have lived, horror stories on that front. I'm thankful that I haven't had any catastrophes of that nature but so many do.
"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya
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I agree, Mike.
Riona, deaths in America for 2010 were 2,468,435. You don't think 300,000+ of those isn't a significant number, I'm guessing.
Compare us to the rest of the world, however, and it looks a bit different:Quote:
A study in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery found that the gun murder rate in the U.S. is almost 20 times higher than the next 22 richest and most populous nations combined.
Among the world’s 23 wealthiest countries, 80 percent of all gun deaths are American deaths and 87 percent of all kids killed by guns are American kids. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/07/gun-deaths-a-familiar-am
erican-experience/
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And then there's this, which comes into it too:Quote:
Dr. Matthew Sleeth is a former emergency room physician. He's also the author of "24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life."
CNN: You begin your book by writing about a store owner who vowed to close his store on Sundays, so his employees and their families, as well as his customers, could take the day off. But it didn't stay that way for long. What happened?
Sleeth: For almost 2,000 years, Western culture stopped -- primarily on Sunday -- for about 24 hours. Even when I was a child, you couldn't buy gasoline, you couldn't buy milk. The drugstores weren't open. The only thing that was open was a hospital. Even in dairy farming country, we would milk cows, but we wouldn't bring in hay.
And so society just had a day where they put it in park. (That) was Sunday... until the last 30 years or so.
CNN: Why do you think taking one day off a week is so important?
Sleeth: We go 24/7 now, and I think it's having health consequences. I think more and more, there's a consensus that it leads to depression and anxiety.
It's interesting, when a doctor sits down and does a primary intake with a new patient, they ask about smoking, exercise and diet, but they don't ask how much you're working. They don't get any sense of if you're working seven days a week, or if you have time set aside -- like people have always had -- for rest.
CNN: You write about incorporating a "stop day" into your weekly schedule. How do you think that can extend and enrich your life?
Sleeth: A "stop day" is a day you really cease from your labors. This really comes in Western cultures from the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment tells us to remember the Sabbath. The word "Sabbath" simply means "to cease" -- to cease from your labors.
CNN: You go as far as to say that going full-throttle 24/7 is an illness. How do you recognize the signs?
Sleeth: I find that there's a growing epidemic, really, of depression. We're the most depressed country in the world.
The World Health Organization says somewhere between one in nine and one in 10 Americans are being treated for depression. We tend to work more hours than any other country in the world; Japan is second closest.
When we're constantly going, we pour out chemicals to try to meet those stresses. We have short-term stress hormones like adrenaline, and longer-term hormones like the steroids that we pour out. Those chemicals constantly being "on" are bad for us, and they lead to anxiety and depression and to, I think, diabetes and being obese.
It's interesting that if I took somebody in the emergency department and gave them a big slug of adrenaline, you'll find that an hour later they're just wiped out, and that'll really persist throughout the day. I think that's what we're doing to ourselves. We're constantly bringing stress into our life, and the idea of having one day a week that I can count on to stop is very reassuring.
Even if on Monday I'm very, very busy -- and that proceeds throughout the week -- if you know you have a habit of a weekly day of rest, of stopping, then you always know that's out in front of you. A lot of people "go" and never know when it is that they're going to come to rest. More at
That's certainly a valid point. I was surprised to learn Japan is second; I thought from stuff I've heard and read that they were first. I've read about Karoshi ("death from overwork"), which has become epidemic in the last few years. The major medical causes of karoshi deaths are heart attack and stroke due to stress. Quote:
A recent measurement found that a Japanese worker has approximately two hours overtime a day on average (generally unpaid). The problem with unpaid overtime in companies is that the overtime
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I am all for a day-of-rest, religion or no, I follow it, but not from any religious observance, and severely resent attempts to force the issue.
But the NOTION of a day of chilling out, I am completely onboard with that!
And yes, as I've said to many, even Yuriko, there's issues of Japanese culture which offend the hell out of me, and that's definately one of em - frankly I feel that the issue of Hikkikomori has as much, or even more to do with an absolute rejection of a society they find repulsive than it does mental illness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori
Especially given my rejection of western society for the same bloody reasons.
Zielenziger's book is WELL worth reading, btw.
-Frem
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I've always been surprised how few paid holidays Americans seem to get in your average job. And by holidays, I mean weeks of paid 'vacation' as you guys put it.
For permanent jobs, you get at least 4 weeks per year here, and some places you can buy more leave. ie I can buy 2 extra weeks, my hubby 4. Plus we get long service leave which you access after 10 years, an additional 10 weeks usually.
mind you, life is different for the vast number of casual employees who may get a higher hourly rate, but little in the way of leave.
I've always thought leave is essential for mental well being. If I couldnt' take regular breaks I'd be a basket case, well more of a basket case.
Niki, the expectations in many jobs now is that you do unaccounted overtime and whoa to you and your career if you dare leave near 5 oclock.
I firmly stand in the school of not working too hard. Can't stand that over obsessive work ethic that seems prevalent these days.
Sad to see that conditions that were hard fought for, being eroded in the name of increasing someone else's profits.
Quote:
Origins of the 8-hour day
In the 1800s, most Victorians worked up to 14 hours a day, six days a week. There was no sick leave, no holiday leave, and employers could sack employees at any time, without giving a reason.
In the 1850s, Victoria was flooded with migrants, all hoping to strike it rich on the goldfields. Many of these were British tradesmen, such as James Stephens, who had been involved with the workers' movement in England. They brought with them a determination to achieve fairer working conditions, including reduced working hours.
There were three main arguments for a reduced working day in Victoria. The first was that Australia's harsh climate necessitated shorter working hours:
...the period of labor under the relaxing influence of an Australian climate, cannot extend to the length of daily toil ruling in the mother country [Britain], without sacrificing health, and shortening the duration of human life.
– Victorian Operative Masons' Society report 11 June, 1884
Source
The second was that working men needed time to develop their minds through education:
The self-cultivation...of the ‘adult man'...can only be the work of time. It would be a great advantage then to give the worker time to read and study, and to progress in knowledge and virtue.
– Victorian Operative Masons' Society report 11 June, 1884
Source
The third was that tradesmen could become better husbands, fathers and citizens if they were granted leisure time:
The man whose mind is unclogged by the action and influence of severe bodily work, when in health will have his natural flow of animal spirits and kindred sympathies, inclining him to self respect, and respect for other, for law, order, and forms so essential to freedom, domestic virtues and good citizenship.
– Victorian Operative Masons' Society report 11 June, 1884
Source
With this in mind, the Builders' Union began its fight for shorter working hours.
In 1856, the stonemasons won the right to a 48-hour working week, which entitled them to Saturday afternoons off. While this doesn't sound like much today, it made a big difference to working class families in the 1850s. It was a pivotal point in Victoria's political history and paved the way for other industries to fight for the same rights in the workplace.
http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/fight-rights/workers-rights
/origins-8-hour-day
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