Clipmarks | Mortality Clips

US Patients Five Times More Likely To Spend Last Days In ICU Than Patients In England

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:01:05 GMT

clipped by: gppixelworks

US Patients Five Times More Likely To Spend Last Days In ICU Than Patients In England

Patients who die in the hospital in the United States are almost five times as likely to have spent part of their last hospital stay in the ICU than patients in England. What's more, over the age of 85, ICU usage among terminal patients is eight times higher in the U.S. than in England

found far greater use of intensive care services in the United States during terminal hospitalizations, especially among medical patients and the elderly

The data do bring up the interesting question of how much intensive care is beneficial. Doing more may not always be better

mortality among those who received intensive care was almost three times higher in England than in the U.S. (19.6 percent vs. 7.4 percent). But when examining deaths overall, only 10.6 of hospital deaths in England involved the ICU, whereas 47.1 in the U.S. did

Tags: healthcare, icu, intensive care units, patients, england, usa, united states, deaths, hospitals

Climate stuff

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:57:26 GMT

clipped by: gsurtees

Clip Source: network.nationalpost.com

We shouldn't fear global warming anyway. Higher mortality rates result from colder climes than warmer ones. Vikings farmed Greenland 1,000 years ago, and the Viking King Canute showed his fawning courtiers that not even he could turn back the tide. Man can't change the climate and neither should he try.

Climate stuff

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:57:01 GMT

clipped by: gsurtees

Clip Source: network.nationalpost.com

I suppose mankind was responsible for the last several ice ages melting away, throwing spears at the moon and sun can cause a lot of friction.

Also much of the date the UN uses is corrupted. Anthony Watts has done an audit of the USHCN stations (1002 of the 1223 completed) and has found that 90 per cent of them are in error of 1 to 5 degrees.

That makes them useless for measuring temperature, or for using their data for modelling. But that doesnt stop the UN

None of these trends up or down can be blamed on human activity. Except in politically motivated models, the effect of human activity cannot be separated from natural variations influenced by 100's of other variables.

Deadly Drugs (Infomation is Beautiful)

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:42:28 GMT

clipped by: sincitykitty
clipper's remarks: Last week, the government has sacked its most senior drugs advisor, Dr Professor Nutt, after he claimed cannabis was no more harmful than alcohol. And that horse-riding was riskier than taking ecstasy.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Deadly Drugs

Last week, the government has sacked its most senior drugs advisor, Dr Professor Nutt, after he claimed cannabis was no more harmful than alcohol. And that horse-riding was riskier than taking ecstasy.

(Technically he's right. The lifetime odds of dying from ecstasy overdose is 1 in 17,803. The risk of dying from horse-riding is around double - 1 in 7,833.)

Taking the science behind his statement and mashing it up with press coverage of drug risks creates an interesting picture.

The government's own data backs up Nutt's assertions. Cannabis seems pretty risk-free, mortality-wise, and its dangers are over-reported in the popular media. Meanwhile, fatalities from legal drugs like paracetamol and anti-depressants are higher than most illicit drugs combined. And those fatalities mostly go unreported.

Two Common Objections to Capitalism

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:39:49 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

The system of voluntary exchange and experimentation based on secure private-property rights — what we loosely call "capitalism" — expands rather than restricts our material and nonmaterial opportunities. Substituting elite power for voluntary exchange invites all sorts of epistemological problems and moral disasters. For these reasons, capitalism deserves to be defended.

Clip Source: mises.org

A lot of people object to what they call "capitalism," but their objections hold little or no water once they are examined critically.

Capitalism Exploits the Poor

economic historian Gregory Clark points out that if you look at real returns to land (rental rates), they have fluctuated but remain virtually unchanged. The same holds true for capital (interest rates). Real wages for unskilled workers, meanwhile, have exploded.

Sources of mortality have also fallen: infant mortality and maternal mortality are miniscule fractions of what they used to be, and life expectancy has increased radically.

Capitalism Is Structurally Racist and Sexist

Milton Friedman said about politics, commerce, and differences: commerce reduces and harmonizes our differences while politics turns those differences into a source of tension and violence.

Capitalism punishes sexism and racism.

Tags: economics, capitalism

struggling to combat maternal mortality

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:01:59 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: www.rferl.org

Every minute, somewhere in the world, a woman dies of complications in pregnancy or childbirth.

That means a total of around half a million maternal deaths each year. To address this alarming problem, the United Nations Population Fund has brought together international policymakers, government ministers, and lawmakers for two conferences in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, this week.

widespread failures in reducing maternal mortality represent a paradox. "In most societies in the world, motherhood is very valued and celebrated,”

But “there is a deficit of attention and seriousness in terms of addressing the issue, and it is very unlikely that in many developing countries the [UN goals on] maternal health will be achieved."

Childbirth remains a leading killer across much of the developing world

Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

1,800 mothers dying out of every 100,000 births

RW special report: Are marathons dangerous?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:48:03 GMT

clipped by: Lexica
clipper's remarks: Much too long to clip even a summary - click through for the whole article.

Clip Source: www.runnersworld.com

If running is so damn healthy, why do runners keep dropping dead in their tracks?

Statistically speaking, a handful of runners will die in a marathon this year-the vast majority from heart attacks (the others from heatstroke or hyponatremia)

Is running-as the alarmists and cynics often suggest-a dangerous activity?

To find out, I visited the world's leading heart and exercise experts, reviewed stacks of medical research about exercise and death risks, and consulted with the statisticians who work in this field

the reassuring truth that running and other vigorous exercise does dramatically lower mortality risks

there are surprising paradoxes, and no guarantees

When an over-35 exerciser dies on the run

the cause is almost always artery disease

a short list of strategies: Eat a mostly vegetarian diet, consume more fish (or a fish-oil supplement) rich in omega-3 fatty acids, take a daily baby aspirin (81 milligrams)

Running might not add years to your life, but it definitely adds life to your years

Tags: running, health, marathons, heart-attack, research

Australia 186 die from Swine Flu....2500 from Seasonal Flu

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:41:56 GMT

clipped by: leevardi
clipper's remarks: ......no Pandemic here either !

Clip Source: www.rumormillnews.com

Without Vaccine, Australia Shrugs Off Swine Flu

With no vaccine available for H1N1 flu, Australia recently ended its 2009 "Flu Season" (their Winter in our Summer), with 186 flu-associated fatalities of 36,991 Aussies confirmed having H1N1.

The Australia 2009 stats for regular 'seasonal flu' are not final yet, but their Health Dept literature cites annual flu-associated mortality historically has been between 2,500 and 3,000 in spite of universal vaccination programs for regular flu long being established. A logical review of these results strongly suggests next year Australia should initiate a "flu vaccination holiday," promote vitamin D supplements, long known to be effective for preventing Wintertime flu disease, and then compare the outcomes.

Full Article:

http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/10/without-vaccine-australia-shrugs-off-swine-flu.html

The Real Risks Associated with Skipping Vaccinations

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:12:59 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: The Article Continues:

If your newborn gets pertussis, for example, there is a 1 percent chance that the baby will die of pulmonary hypertension or other complications. The risk of dying from the pertussis vaccine, by contrast, is practically nonexistent

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Before smallpox was eradicated with a vaccine, it killed an estimated 500 million people. And just 60 years ago, polio paralyzed 16,000 Americans every year, while rubella caused birth defects and mental retardation in as many as 20,000 newborns. Measles infected 4 million children, killing 3,000 annually, and a bacterium called Haemophilus influenzae type b caused Hib meningitis in more than 15,000 children, leaving many with permanent brain damage. Infant mortality and abbreviated life spans — now regarded as a third world problem — were a first world reality.

Today, because the looming risk of childhood death is out of sight, it is also largely out of mind, leading a growing number of Americans to worry about what is in fact a much lesser risk: the ill effects of vaccines.

Tags: vaccination, anti-vaccination, debate

Another Reason Why Capitalism Stinks : Science Daily

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:11:46 GMT

clipped by: RayWatkins
clipper's remarks: High Death Rates And Short Life Expectancy Among Homeless And Marginally Housed

[PS The last sentence in this article is a no brainer! tr]

Clip Source: paeditorsblog.blogspot.com

ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2009) — Homeless and marginally housed people have much higher mortality and shorter life expectancy than could be expected on the basis of low income alone, concludes a study from Canada published on bmj.com.

Previous studies have found high levels of excess mortality among the homeless compared with the general population, but little information is available on death rates among homeless and marginally housed people living in low-cost collective dwellings, such as rooming houses and hotels.

So, researchers at St Michael's Hospital in Toronto and Statistics Canada compared death rates and life expectancy among a representative sample of homeless and marginally housed people with rates in the poorest and richest income sectors of the general population.

The Lifespan Of A Rodent

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:36:15 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Mice are very prone to cancer; in some strains, 90 percent of them die of tumors. People have stronger defenses against cancer, as is necessary for a long-lived animal: the disease accounts for 23 percent of human mortality. But the mole rat has taken its anticancer defenses even further: it seems not to get the disease at all.

Dr. Gorbunova, who works at the University of Rochester, has taken a first step toward understanding the genetic basis of the mole rat’s surprising immunity to cancer. She and her colleagues have found that the rats’ cells have a double system for inhibiting irregular proliferation, compared with the single system in human cells.

The mole rat’s double system may be part of the reason for its remarkable immunity to cancer.

But Ronald da Pinho of Harvard Medical School, an expert on cancer and telomeres, disagreed, saying that inactive telomerase can be a cancer risk for human cells because it leads to genetic instability.

Snapping Turtle Reporduction : Bet Hedging

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:03:30 GMT

clipped by: LandLogic
clipper's remarks: From Tortoise Trust

Clip Source: www.tortoisetrust.org

In the northern parts of their range snapping turtles have a reproductive strategy which scientists call bet-hedging. Its characteristics are high and fluctuating egg mortality, highly variable density independent juvenile mortality, but low and constant adult mortality (long life), delayed maturity, low reproductive effort, annual reproduction, constant reproductive output independent of environmental factors, and smaller than maximum possible clutches. This is generally a response to an unpredictable and highly fluctuating environment, since an individual, which will reproduce with the same amount of effort every year will have a higher probability of actually reproducing during the infrequent favorable years where the whole clutch will survive.

A species which lives only for a short time and dies soon (such as rabbits) need relatively stable conditions to insure that at least two of their offspring will survive to reproduce again

HealthGrades: Patients half as likely to die at best hospitals

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:07:42 GMT

clipped by: JackieDel
clipper's remarks: "If all hospitals performed at the level of a five-star rated hospital across 17 procedures and diagnoses studied for mortality rates, 224,537 lives of Medicare patients could potentially have been saved from 2006 through 2008."

Clip Source: denver.bizjournals.com

There is a wide gap in quality among America's hospitals, and a corresponding large difference in the rate of patient deaths, says a report Tuesday by medical ratings company HealthGrades Inc.

The Golden-based company (NASDAQ: HGRD) said patients have a 51.53 percent lower risk of dying in a top-rated hospital than in U.S. hospitals in general.

That's based on an evaluation of hospital mortality related to 17 procedures and diagnoses at 5,000 non-federal U.S. hospitals, HealthGrades said.

Researchers examined 40 million Medicare hospitalization records from the years 2006, 2007 and 2008, HealthGrades said.

Under HealthGrades' one- to five-star hospital ratings system, with five stars meaning overall performance in the top 15 percent of U.S. hospitals, patients have a 71.64 percent lower risk of dying at a five-star hospital than at a one-star facility, the report said.

It said the "quality chasm" between hospitals "has persisted for the last decade."

Tags: healthcare, usa, obama

The Democrat’s War on Oncologists and Cardiologists

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:57:33 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: cardiology and 19% on radiation oncology. They’re targets only because of cost: Two-thirds of morbidity or mortality among Medicare patients owes to cancer or heart disease.

…

Cancer doctors get hit because the Administration believes specialists order too many MRIs and CT scans. Certain kinds of diagnostic imaging lose 24% under new assumptions that machines are in use 90% of the time, up from 50%. There isn’t a radiologist in America running an MRI 10.8 hours out of 12, unless he’s lining up patients on a conveyor belt. But claiming scanners are used far more often than they really are lets the Administration “score” spending cuts.

It’s like doling out healthcare by mimicking progressive income taxation; tax the haves into oblivion so eventually all can go without.
And this change is applied to all expensive equipment, not just MRIs and CTs, so payments for antitumor radiation therapy will fall by up to 44%.

Clip Source: proteinwisdom.com

From the 6th comes a piece from the WSJ on yet more “managed” meddling planned under the Democrat’s various efforts to radically alter American medicine.

In President Obama’s Washington, medical specialists are slightly more popular than the H1N1 virus. Compared to bread-and-butter primary care doctors, specialists cost more to train and make more use of expensive procedures and technology—and therefore cost the government more money. Even so, the quiet war Democrats are waging on specialists is astonishing.

Take a provision in the Baucus bill that would punish any physician whose “resource use” is considered too high. Beginning in 2015, Medicare would rank doctors against their peers based on how much they cost the program—and then automatically cut all payments by 5% to anyone who falls into the 90th percentile or above. In practice, this rule will only apply to specialists.

The 2010 rules, which will be finalized next month, visit an 11% overall cut on

Tags: administration score spending cuts, believes specialists order too many mris and ct sc, oncologists and cardiologists

Child mortality in India ranked high

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:56:24 GMT

clipped by: Asiabroadcast
clipper's remarks: India and Bangladesh accounts for 40% of the world's under-five deaths. For a country which claims a high growth, the care and position of children and women have not improved at all.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

In general, the study says, values greater than 10 indicate a serious problem, greater than 20 are alarming and exceeding 30 are extremely alarming.

Low status of women

India and most other South Asian countries score in the region of 20 plus.

The three indicators for ranking were child malnutrition, child mortality and estimates of the proportion of people who were calorie deficient.

"In India and Bangladesh, high rates of child malnutrition, as opposed to the other two indicators, are the main reason for the high Global Hunger Index value," says the report.

It says "the low status of women in South Asian countries and their lack of nutritional knowledge are important determinants of high prevalence of underweight children in the region".

The report also blames "inadequate feeding and caring practices for young children" for the grim situation in South Asian countries.

Tags: child mortality, women, malnutrition, nutrion