Menstuff® has compiled general information health information.
See our complete listing of Health
Issues (emotional, physical, psychological, sexual and
additions). Here is an easy to understand glossary
of medical terms. Get your Healthy Men 2007 calendar at www.cdc.gov/women/calendar/men.pdf
Why
men don't go to the doctor
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IMPORTANT BOOKS
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Important Men's Health Dates
A Love Story
Sceenings
for Men
Ask
an Expert
Read More in the Men's
Health Center
Ask
an Expert Archive
Health A-Z
Men's Health
Office
Mom Wasn't Always Right
Men's Most Embarrassing Health
Problems
Is your cell phone causing your
spirm count to drop?
Fart Facts
Routine Maintenance for Men
to Keep the Warranty Current
How States Rank on Health
Care
13 Healthy Habits to Improve
Your Life
Boys' Health Lags Behind
Girls
Tests And Procedures: Answers For
You
Screenings for Men
Alternative
Medicine
Men: Stay Fit As You
Age
10 Manly Tips For An
Aging Workout
Age-Appropriate
Exercises For Men
Waved Status for Medical
Testing
Men's Health Act
Office of Men's
Health
What is the WHO Doing for Men's
Health?
Refuting the Myth of Biological
Advantage
Health Experts Issue a Wake-up Call
on Men's Health
Free
Reminder E-mails for Your Health
Current Health Hoaxes
Endangered Species -
Men
International Journal of
Men's Health to be Launched
How to Survive a Heart Attack When
Alone
Body Mass Index Calculator
How Long Will
You Live Into The New Millenium?
Hard-working women may be bad for
your health
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Ignore
Men - 1
The AAOS (above) Confirms Our
Suspicion - 2
Most Smokers Can't Collect Social
Security
Breast Cancer Kills Men
Too
Poisons - Don't Forget about
Inhalants
The Myth: Medical Research is
Biased Against Women
HMO Legislation Excludes Men
The Latest on
Ritalin: Scientists last week said it works. But how do
you know if it's right for your kids?
Ritalin - It's Ridiculous
15 Major Causes of
Death
Get a Check Up
Testicular
Cancer - Attention All Men 15 to 40
Parkinson's Disease
Suicide
Happy
Holidaze?
Stop Drugging People
Let's Hear it for
Testosterone
Health Care Bias
Men Revolt
That's Not a Stretch
Pot Scrubbers
& Triclosan
Work-Related Aviation
Fatalities
Prevalence of Aspirin Use to Prevent Heart
Disease
Second-Hand
Smoke
Gay Health Issues
Snippets for Men
Snippets for Black Men
Snippets for Latinos
Snippets for Men vs.
Women
Mid-Life/transition
Menstuff.org Visits Health
& Wellness Fairs
Newsbytes
Issues
Books on ADD,
AIDS, Blindness,
Deafness,
General,
Impotence, Prostate,
Stress, and Testicular
Health
Journals
- on Child, Elder, Emotional, Religious, and Sexual Abuse and
Trauma
Periodicals
Resources on Blindness,
Deafness,
Disabilities,
General
Health, Impotence,
Parkinson's,
Prostate,
Rural
Health, & Testicular
Slide Guides for AIDS,
STDS, General
Health, Prostate
and Testicular
Self Exam
Pamphlets on General
Health and Prostate
First Aid Shortcuts
Allergic Reactions
Asthma Bites and Stings
Bleeding Breathing Problems
Broken Bones
Bruises
Burns
Chest Pain
Choking
CPR
Diarrhea
Dizziness
Drug Overdose
Eye Injury
Fainting
Fever
Food Poisoning
Foreign Objects
Head Injuries
Heart Attack
Low Blood Sugar
Neck & Back Injuries
Poisoning
Seizures
Shock
Skin Rash in Kids
Sprains & Strains
Sunburn
Vomiting
Source: firstaid.webmd.com/script/main/hp.asp
Other First Aid A-Z
Source: firstaid.webmd.com/script/main/hp.asp
Current Health Related Hoaxes and Rumors
Tests And Procedures: Answers For You
How to Survive a Heart Attack When
Alone
What can you do? You've been trained in CPR but the guy that taught the course neglected to tell you how to perform it on yourself.
Without help, the person whose heart stops beating properly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.
We're told that you can help yourself by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.
Rreprinted from The Mended Hearts, Inc. publication, Heart
Response
Sticky Situatoin
If you think it takes seven years to digest swallowed gum, think again. According to experts, after gum is ingested into your body, it will process the same way as other swallowed particles -- simply passing through your system within 24 hours. While the body has a challenging time breaking down the rubbery substance, it will exit your body the same way it entered, as an intact piece of gum.
Feed a Cold
Your mother may have given you advice to "feed a cold and starve a fever," but this is one of the few instances where she was actually wrong. While this myth does take into account that your body needs energy to fight a cold, you also need fuel in order to combat a fever. As for the doctor's orders? Stay at home, eat healthy food and take a lot of fluids.
Apple-iscious
According to Holly Phillips, M.D., affiliated with Lenox Hospital in New York City and medical correspondent for WCBS-TV, the mantra "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" is true ... sort of. "Apples are very healthful and contain antioxidants that help fight cancer, stroke and heart disease."
Dr. Phillips is an advocate of apples since they are packed with pectin, a soluble fiber which helps the body eliminate cholesterol and fends off environmental toxins. Though it's not guaranteed they'll keep the doctor away, they certainly can help.
Swimming Delay
Whether you've eaten a light snack or big meal, it matters not. Your mother's health advice of waiting an hour after eating before going swimming is, well, all washed up. "While it's healthy to wait a little while before swimming to avoid cramps, you don't necessarily need to wait an entire hour," advises Dr. Phillips. She points out that professional athletes often eat prior to training or competing and don't necessarily wait an entire hour before plunging in.
Acne Attack
Chocolate lovers will breathe a collective sigh of relief to know that unlike your mother's mantra, chocolate consumption will not cause acne. Quite the contrary, chocolate contains anti-oxidants which aid better skin complexion. The real cause of acne, experts say, encompasses a variety of factors such as bacteria in pores, stress levels, the accumulation of dead skin cells and hormonal activity. The next time you want to reach for a candy bar, go ahead; it won't have adverse effects on your skin.
TV Blindness
Sitting too close to the television will not cause blindness, although your mother may beg to differ. Rather, the underlying causes of blindness and visual impairment are linked to disease and malnutrition. For instance, cataracts and glaucoma are the most common ailments associated with blindness. However, if you sit closer than two feet away from the television, you may need to visit the eye doctor to test your eyes for nearsightedness.
Chicken's Soup
"Eating chicken soup can indirectly help fight a cold," confirms John Corso, M.D., a board-certified internist for 20 years. While it's not necessarily a direct cure to the common cold, it indirectly helps fight the ailment. He notes that when we are sick, we become dehydrated. Hot soup restores two vital ingredients in our bodies: water and salt, which are needed to hydrate your body.
Knuckle Cracking
Contrary to popular belief, cracking your knuckles does not cause arthritis. Rather, arthritis is caused by a variety of factors such as genetics, age, weight, previous injury, high-level sports and joint infections. Experts say that cracking your knuckles by bending or pulling your fingers will stretch out the lubricant between joints, known as synovial fluid. Bubbles then form in the fluid and they burst, hence the pop sound. Essentially, knuckle cracking addicts may overextend their ligaments and lose some grip strength.
Editor's choice: Masturbating Will Turn You to
Stone. For many men, this becomes less and less true as we age.
You may go blind, however.
Source: body.aol.com/healthy-living/health-myths
Latest NIH Report a Setback for Men's
Health
In Fiscal Year 1994, men represented 44.9% of participants in extramural research, women 51.8%, and the sex of the remaining 3.3% was unknown. By 1997, male participation fell to 37.1%.
Table 2 in the most recent report presents disturbing news: In 1998, male participation dropped to 32.2%.
Since 6 million individuals participate in NIH research each year, this means that only 1.9 million of these persons are male.
But the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 (PL 103-43) requires equal gender participation in NIH research. Thus, according to federal law, 3.0 million men should be participating in NIH studies. Therefore, NIH is excluding 1.1 million males from research studies that should be looking at ways to prevent and cure the diseases that are killing men.
If you wish to see the report for yourself, call or write: NIH
Office of Research on Women's Health Building 1, Room 201 Bethesda,
MD 20892 301.402.1770. Full citation: Roth C, Pinn VW, Hartmuller V
et al: "Monitoring Adherence to the NIH Policy on the Inclusion of
Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research." Bethesda, MD:
NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, September 1, 2000.
The Myth: Medical Research is
Biased Against Women
In 1920, the life span gender gap was only 1.0 year. By 1990, men were dying seven years earlier than women. So what has medical research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) done to reduce this disparity?
NIH Gender-Specific Research: As early as 1988, women's health was allocated 9.7% of the NIH research budget, compared to only 4.4% for men's health, with the remaining 85.9% going to research that benefited both sexes (1). By 1996, women's health funding had soared to 16.0%, with men's health only 5.7% of the total (2). Even more troubling is the declining male participation in NIH research. By Fiscal Year 1996, only 36.3% of NIH study participants were men (3).
The Heart Disease Controversy: Men's risk of dying of heart disease has long been almost twice that of women (4). True, women did not represent 50% of enrollees in the early heart disease studies. But after the 1961 thalidomide tragedy that maimed 12,000 infants, women were of no mind to volunteer for risky drug trials. So is it fair to say that females were "excluded" from clinical research? As the Institute of Medicine explained, "The literature is inconclusive about whether women have been excluded or importantly underrepresented in clinical trials" (5). Nonetheless, more than half of all participants in the Framingham Heart Study, which started in the early 1950s, were female. And beginning in 1970, women were equally represented in high blood pressure trials (6). By 1996, women's heart and lung disease research was funded to the tune of $220 million, compared to only $199 million for men (7). And men still face twice the risk of death.
Slighted by Cancer Research: In the earliest analysis of enrollment by gender, men composed only 40% of adults recruited into cancer trials (8), despite the fact that men's cancer death rates were almost 50% higher than women (4). This disparity has worsened over time, as revealed by a comparison of funding for breast and prostate cancer research. Each year, more people are diagnosed with prostate cancer than breast cancer. In 1991, the National Institutes of Health spent $92.7 million on breast cancer research, compared to $13.8 million on prostate cancer (9). Despite all the efforts to increase prostate cancer funding, the gap only widened during the following years: By 1998, $348.6 million went to breast cancer, while prostate cancer garnered only $89.5 million.
A Troubling Disparity, Any Way You Count It: In cancer research, prostate cancer has always been dramatically underfunded, and men have long been underrepresented in clinical trials. Any way you look at it—--sex-specific budget allocations, declining male participation in NIH studies, or comparative risk of death—--over the past decade, men's health has been shortchanged by medical research.
References:
1. NIH Advisory Committee on Women's Health Issues: NIH Support for
Research on Women's and Men's Health Issues, Fiscal Years 1988, 1989,
and 1990. NIH Publication No. 92-3456.
2. Office of Research on Women's Health: NIH Support for Research on
Women's Health Issues, FY 1995-96, Table 11.
3. Office of Research on Women's Health: Implementation of the NIH
Guidelines on the Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in
Clinical Research, December 1998.
4. Department of Health and Human Services: Health, United States,
1998, Table 31.
5. Bennett JC: Inclusion of women in clinical trials. N Engl J Med
1993; 329: 288-291.
6. Young K, Satel S: The myth of gender bias in medicine. Washington,
DC: Women's Freedom Network, 1997, p. 6.
7. Office of Research on Women's Health: NIH Support for Research on
Women's Health Issues, Fiscal Years 1995 and 1996. Table 10. 8.
Ungerleider RS, Friedman MA: Sex, trials, and datatapes. J National
Cancer Institute 1991; 83: 16-17.
9. National Cancer Institute: Research Dollars by Various Cancers.
www.nci.nih.gov/public/factbk97/varican.htm
then look at their HEDIS 2000 page.
These are the standards for women’s health:
1. Breast cancer screening
2. Cervical cancer screening
3. Chlamydia screening in women
4. Prenatal care in the first trimester
5. Checkups after delivery
6. Initiation of prenatal care
7. Frequency of ongoing prenatal care
8. Discharge and average length of stay - maternity care
9. Cesarean section
10. Vaginal birth after delivery
11. Management of menopause
12. Weeks of pregnancy at time of enrollment
These are the standards for men’s health:
0. No, that’s not a typographic error, as we understand it. There are 12 standards for women’s health, and none for men’s health.
Act now. Complain to your local HMO, elected representative,
whomever. Because people care about your life. Interested in doing
something? Contact www.egroups.com/group/menshealth/
and
get involved in the Men's Health Action Alert.
Is There a Place for Men's Health? Edward E. Bartlett,
PhD
Reason #1: Women as the higher-risk population. Some have argued that women are the at-risk population, and therefore in greater need of healthcare attention (1). Key vital statistics paint a different picture.
In 1920, American women lived one year longer than men. Over the succeeding decades, the gap progressively widened. By 1990, the life span gender gap reached 7.0 years (2). For every one of the top 10 leading causes of death, men have a higher age-adjusted death rate than women (3). Compared to women, men are twice as likely to die of heart disease or injuries, and are at four times greater risk of dying of HIV infection, suicide, or homicide.
True, women experience higher rates of osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, eating disorders, and depression, but the vital statistics overwhelmingly point to men as the high-risk population.
Reason #2: Neglect of women's health by medical researchers. Responding to concerns that women's health research was being neglected, the National Institutes of Health began in Fiscal Year 1988 to analyze sex-specific research funding. In 1988, women's health was allocated 9.7%, men's health 4.4%, with the remainder going to research benefiting both sexes (4). By 1996, women's health research was receiving almost three times the amount as men's health (5-7).
Cancer research has always garnered the lion's share of the research dollar, and women have always been fully represented in cancer trials, representing 57% of all study entrants in 1989 (8). In the area of heart disease research, women have also been well-represented. One of the most ambitious NIH-funded studies was conducted in Framingham, Massachusetts, beginning in 1948. Participants in this study included 2,336 men and 2,873 women.
Women have been extensively recruited into hypertension control studies (9). And the first artificial heart surgery was performed in 1966 on a 37-year-old woman (10). And although no women participated in some of the early drug trials, the thalidomide and DES tragedies were fresh in persons' minds. The American public was not willing to risk deformed infants or needless cancer risk among children of women who had taken unsafe drugs while they were pregnant.
Reason #3: Inadequate research devoted to men's health issues
The National Committee for Quality Assurance explained its omission of men's health because of the "the lack of scientific evidence available for conditions that solely affect men" (11). This statement is ironic because it contradicts Reason #2.
True, funding for prostate cancer research has paled in comparison to breast cancer. In 1998, prostate cancer was budgeted $89.5 million, compared to $348.6 million for breast cancer (12). But the fact remains, over the past 50 years, billions of dollars have been spent researching heart disease, cancer, stroke, injuries, AIDS, and other conditions that affect men. It seems hard to believe that we still have nothing to show in the way of specific guidelines or standards.
Reason #4: Sex-bias by medical practitioners
Women's health advocates have often made the allegation that the medical care system has favored the provision of services to men.
In terms of overall medical visits, statistics show the opposite is t rue. In 1995, men had an average of 4.9 physician contacts per year, while women had 6.5 contacts (13). Men make fewer medical visits than women, even when health status and socio-economic level are held constant (14).
Feminists have also complained that referral rates to specialists are lower for women. To the contrary, most studies have found that women have referral rates as equal to or higher than men, especially after the greater severity of men's disease is taken into account (15-21).
Recently the New England Journal of Medicine published a study that purported to show that women were 40% less likely to be referred for cardiac catheterization than men (22). Unfortunately, the authors did not account for the well-known fact that women are far more likely to experience complications or death from catheterization, which could be expected to reduce primary care physicians' proclivity to make referrals. Furthermore, the authors used inappropriate analytical and statistical methods, which drew this rebuke: "The exaggeration of the data does nothing to advance the fight against discrimination on the basis of race or sex; it arguably aggravates the problem" (23).
What Might Standards for Men's Health Look Like?
There is no problem with the validity of the 12 women's health criteria. The problem is the absence of corresponding standards unique to men's health. What kind of standards might be appropriate for men?
Men are less likely to use medical services, even when they get sick, so a useful first step would be an assessment of male utilization of ambulatory services. In the workplace, men still suffer 92% of all fatalities (24), so improved safety measures and educational programs are called for there.
As far as disease-specific criteria, heart disease, the number one cause of death among men, merits special attention. We might start with high blood pressure control, which is more of a problem among men than women, especially Black men (25). Also, men are more likely to smoke than women, so a standard on smoking cessation counseling would be valuable.
Prostate disease is important to men's health. Although the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test is still controversial for screening healthy men, the American Cancer Society recommends some form of prostate screening for men over 50.
Men 15-24 years of age are almost three times more likely to die than their female counterparts, mostly due to motor vehicle accidents, homicide, and suicide, so a risk reduction standard is necessary here. Suicide is a problem for men of all ages, especially elderly men who live alone, so suicide prevention measures would be called for. Despite rising numbers of women with HIV infection, AIDS is still a predominantly male problem, and deserves special attention.
Eight of the women's health standards relate to obstetrical/ maternal issues. Here again, corresponding criteria for men are indicated, especially since father absence has been linked to a broad range of child behavioral, academic, and emotional problems (26). The NCQA might well include standards for paternal involvement in prenatal classes and/or delivery of the infant.
Operational Considerations
In the past, men tended to evince less interest in their own health than women, and avoided medical contacts unless encouraged by their wives or girlfriends. Many men viewed their higher risk of early mortality as an inevitable consequence of their occupational duties, recreational pursuits, or other social roles. And many men neglected their health, believing the needs of their families come first.
But the flip side of this fact is that men respond positively to appeals to their responsibilities as fathers and husbands. And the burgeoning readership of magazines such as Men's Health proves that many men wish to obtain more information about this important topic.
These are some of the activities that managed care executives can implement to achieve excellence in men's health:
• Include articles on men's health in member newsletters—and remember that men's health is much more than baldness and prostate health.
• Participate in Men's Health Week, preceding Father's Day in June
• Place posters in the clinical areas that feature men's health themes
• Develop male-specific wellness classes
• Many MCOs send out mammography reminders to their female members; the same should be done for high blood pressure checks for men (and women, too)
• Men have a higher workforce participation than women, and often work longer hours, so make medical services easily accessible to full-time workers
• Train healthcare providers in communication skills that address the fact that male patients are less open about the emotional aspects of their disease
• Develop mental health services that are more focused on men's needs, especially risk of suicide
Conclusion
Women's health is important and deserves special attention. Our review finds no basis, however, for promulgating sex-specific standards that exclude men. Mortality trends, medical research funding patterns, and health care utilization all suggest that men deserve at least equal attention by managed care organizations and the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
References
1. Department of Health and Human Services: Healthy People 2010 Objectives: Draft for Public Comment. September 15, 1998. Goal #2: Eliminate Health Disparities.
2. Anderson RN, Kochanek KD, Murphy SL. Advance report of final mortality statistics, 1995. Monthly Vital Statiscs Report. National Center for Health Statistics 1997; 45 (Suppl. 2): 19.
3. Department of Health and Human Services: Health, United States, 1998, Table 31.
4. NIH Advisory Committee on Women's Health Issues. NIH Support for Research on Women's and Men's Health Issues, Fiscal Years 1988, 1989, and 1990. NIH Publication No. 92-3456.
5. NIH Office of Research on Women's Health. NIH Support for Research on Women's and Men's Health Issues, Fiscal Years 1991 and 1992. NIH Publication No. 94-3717.
6. NIH Office of Research on Women's Health. NIH Support for Research on Women's Health Issues, Fiscal Years 1993 and 1994. NIH Publication No. 98-3983.
7. NIH Office of Research on Women's Health. NIH Support for Research on Women's Health Issues, Fiscal Years 1995 and 1996.
8. Ungerleider RS, Friedman MA. Sex, trials, and datatapes. J National Cancer Institute 1991; 83: 16-17.
9. Young C, Satel S: The myth of gender bias in medicine. Washington, DC: Women's Freedom Network, 1997, p. 6.
10. Satel S: Scapegoats in White Coats: How the Current Quest for Social Justice Corrupts Medicine. New York: Basic Books, in press.
11. Letter from Margaret O'Kane, NCQA President, to Men's Health America, November 19, 1999.
12. Research Dollars by Various Cancers. www.nci.nih.gov/admin.fmb/barican.htm
13. Department of Health and Human Services: Health, United States, 1998, Table 74.
14. Department of Health and Human Services: Health, United States, 1998, Table 76.
15. Varma V. Are women treated differently than men with acute myocardial infarction? J Am College of Cardiology 192; Vol 19, No. 5.
16. Stoverinck MFM, Lagro-Janssen ALM, Van Weel C: Sex differences in health problems, diagnostic testing, and referral in primary care. J Family Practice 1996; 43: 567-576.
17. Loop FD, Golding LR, MacMillan JP, Cosgrove DM, Lytle BW, Sheldon WC. Coronary artery surgery in women compared with men: Analyses of risks and long-term results. J Am Coll Cardiol 1983; 1:383-390.
18. Pearson ML, Kahn KL, Harrison ER, et al. Differences in quality of care for hospitalized elderly men and women. JAMA 1992; 268:1883-1889.
19. McGann KP, Marion GS, Szewczyk MB, et al. Absence of sex differences in the evaluation of patients hospitalized for transient ischemic attacks. J Fam Pract 1994; 39:134-1139
20. Gabriel SE, Wenger DE, Ilstrup DM, et al. Lack of evidence for gender bias in the utilization of total hip athroplasty among Olmsted County, Minnesota residents with osteoarthritis. Arthritis Rheum 1994; 37:1171-1176.
21. Mark DB, Shaw LK, DeLong ER, et al. Absence of sex bias in the referral of patients for cardiac catheterization. N Engl J Med 1994; 330:1101-1106.
22. Schulman KA, Berlin JA, Harless W, et al: The effect of race and sex on physicians' recommendations for cardiac catheterization. N Engl J Med 1999; 340: 618-626.
23. Schwartz LM, Woloshin S, Welch HG. Misunderstandings about the effects of race and sex on physicians' referrals for cardiac catheterization. N Engl J Med 1999; 341: 279-283.
24. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Fatal Workplace Injuries in 1996: A Collection of Data and Analysis. Washington, DC: US Department of Labor, Report 922, June 1998, Table A-9.
25. Burt VL, Whelton P, Roccella EJ et al. Prevalence of hypertension in the US adult population. Hypertension 1995; 25: 305-313.
26. Horn WF. Fatherhood Facts. Gaithersburg, MD: National
Fatherhood Initiative, 1998.
Hard-working women may be bad for
your health
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Ignore Men - 1
November 4, 2000
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
sobiesczyk@aaos.org
Editors:
We are probably the largest web site on men's issues in the world, over 109 megabytes of information. We get over 8,000 hits a day and have received a 4-star rating from Britannia.com.
We are always interested in finding new web sites that we can recommend. We have two questions?
1. What is the difference between Orthopedic an Orthopaedic surgeons? I know that Orthopedic Surgeons deal with bone and muscle problems. How does that differ from Orthopaedic Surgeons?
2. We are interested in including web sites that speak to men as well as women. It was interesting to find that your site has a specific section titled "Women's Health Issues Committee" (though still under construction) but doesn't address any such health issues for men. So, apparently what the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons are saying, according to your web site, is that men should not be concerned with bone and muscle because men don't have ANY problems in that area.
We don't believe this to be true. We believe that in order to build strong bones, young men need to be concerned since they get less than half the daily amount of calcium that they need to help prevent bone problems in old age.
We would like to direct our visitors to sites that understand these and other men's health issues. And, while you recommend several other web sites specifically concerning women's health, men's health is ignored. Can you recommend any web sites that understand and address the importance of men's health and men's bone and muscle health?
Gordon Clay, Executive Director
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Ignore Men - 2
Subj: RE: Link Web Sites
Date: 11/6/00 10:00:28 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: sobiesczyk@aaos.org (Sobiesczyk, Jim)
To: Menstuff@aol.com ('Menstuff@aol.com')
Mr Clay,
Thank you for your recent information request that you submitted to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
To answer your first question, "Orthopedic" and "Orthopaedic" are synonomous. The Academy's preferred method of spelling it is "orthopaedic".
To answer your second question, the Academy has several committees that members participate in. The membership of the Academy decides on what committees to form based on health care demand. At this time, there isn't a great demand to focus an entire committee on men's issues.
Pleased contact me if I can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
James Sobiesczyk
Research and Information Specialist
Department of Research and Scientific Affairs
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
6300 North River Road
Rosemont, IL 60018-4262
sobiesczyk@aaos.org (e-mail)
The Latest on Ritalin: Scientists
last week said it works. But how do you know if it's right for your
kids?
regarding a book, Boys Will Be Boys Or you can just drug them.
By George F. Will. A reaction is underway against drugging children
because they are behaving like children, especially boy children.
Colorado's elected school board recently voted to discourage what
looks like drug abuse in the service of an ideological agenda. The
board urged teachers and other school personnel to be more restrained
about recommending drugs such as Ritalin for behavior modification of
children, and to rely more on discipline and instruction.
One reason for the vote is that some school violence has been committed by students taking psychotropic drugs. But even absent a causal connection between the drugs and violence, there are sound reasons to recoil from the promiscuous drugging of children.
Consider the supposed epidemic of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that by 1996 had U.S. youngsters consuming 90 percent of the world's Ritalin. Boys, no parent of one will be surprised to learn, are much more likely than girls to be diagnosed with ADHD. In 1996, 10 percent to 12 percent of all American schoolboys were taking the addictive Ritalin. (After attending classes on the dangers of drugs?)
One theory holds that ADHD is epidemic because of the modern acceleration of life--the environmental blitzkrieg of MTV, video games, e-mail, cell phones, etc. But the magazine Lingua Franca reports that Ken Jacobson, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, conducted a cross-cultural study of ADHD that included observation of two groups of English schoolchildren, one diagnosed with ADHD, the other not. He observed them with reference to 35 behaviors (e.g., "giggling," "squirming," "blurting out") and found no significant differences between the groups.
Children, he says, tend to talk, fidget and fool around--"all the classical ADHD-type behaviors. If you're predisposed to label any child as ADHD, the distracted troublemaker or the model student, you'll find a way to observe these behaviors." So what might explain such a predisposition?
Paul R. McHugh, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, writing in Commentary, argues that ADHD, "social phobia" (usual symptom: fear of public speaking) and other disorders certified by the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" are proliferating rapidly. This is because of a growing tendency to regard as mental problems many characteristics that are really aspects of individuality. So pharmacology is employed to relieve burdensome aspects of temperament.
"Psychiatric conditions," says McHugh, "are routinely differentiated by appearances alone," even when it is "difficult to distinguish symptoms of illness from normal variations in human life," or from the normal responses of sensitive people to life's challenges. But if a condition can be described, it can be named; once named, a distinct disorder can be linked to a particular treatment. McHugh says some experts who certify new disorders "receive extravagant annual retainers from pharmaceutical companies that profit from the promotion of disorders treatable by the companies' medications."
The idea that most individuals deficient in attentiveness or confidence are sick encourages what McHugh calls pharmacological "mental cosmetics." This "should be offensive to anyone who values the richness of human psychological diversity. Both medically and morally, encumbering this naturally occurring diversity with the terminology of disease is a first step toward efforts, however camouflaged, to control it."
Clearly some children need Ritalin. However, Ken Livingston, of Vassar's department of psychology, writing in the Public Interest, says Ritalin is sometimes used as a diagnostic tool--if it improves a child's attention, ADHD is assumed. But Ritalin, like other stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine, improves almost everyone's attention. And Ritalin is a ready resource for teachers who blur the distinction between education and therapy.
One alternative to Ritalin might be school choice--parents finding schools suited to their children's temperaments. But, says Livingston, when it is difficult to change the institutional environment, "we don't think twice about changing the brain of the person who has to live in it."
This is an age that tries to medicalize every difficulty or defect. Gwen Broude, also of Vassar, believes that the rambunctiousness of boys is treated as a mental disorder by people eager to interpret sex differences as personal deficiencies. Danielle Crittenden of the Independent Women's Forum sees the "anti-boy lobby" behind hand wringing about the supposed dangers of reading the Harry Potter novels, which feature wizardry, witchcraft and other really neat stuff.
The androgyny agenda of progressive thinkers has reduced children's literature to bland gruel because, Crittenden says, there is "zero tolerance for male adventurousness." The Potter books recall those traditional boys' books that satisfied boys' zeal for strife and adventure. Today, Crittenden says, that zeal causes therapists--they are everywhere--to reach for Ritalin.
Harry is brave, good and constantly battling evil. He should point his broomstick toward Colorado, where perhaps boys can be boys.
(Editor - Just a reminder of the piece we reported re: the 11/98
article on Ritalin in Time magazine.
The Latest on Ritalin: Scientists last week said it
works. But how do you know if it's right for your kids? In the
11/30/98 issues of Time magazine, a report on this scary drug
often used to shut down the human spirit, especially in boys.) Also
see books Health-ADD.
A musical group from New York call themselves Abstinence. They are using the medium of music and theater to expose the current beliefs around "truth", which in many cases, especially medical ones, only proves to be temporary. One song talks about drugging the elderly and because no-one sees it, no-one does anything. I wonder if they saw it if people would still do anything about it. Not understanding that if we don't die, we're likely to become one of those who ends up being drugged for a good portion of our later years. Here's what they say, "One-percent of senior citizens have been diagnosed as psychotic. Why is it that 52% of all nursing home patients are given anti psychotic medication? That doesn't sound scientific to me. That seems like a form of social control. We're keeping people from living. We're keeping them shut out. Why don't you go tell all these hospitals and all those nursing homes to stop drugging people. The side effects are devastating. And none of it is curative. None of it. Do you think electric impulse Thoreau is curative? Where you give the brain a seizure which permanently ruptures and hemorrhages the brain so the person forgets what they were depressed about. I don't understand why it's so hard to challenge this concept. Where did it come from. Where did this big effort where pharmaceutical companies and the AMA and the FDA and private doctors and the medical community are all doing such an enormous job to denigrate something that is natural and has a long history of safety and efficacy - people taking responsibility for their health." This reminded me of the information in "Dead Men Walking" where, when a person is put to death through lethal injection, it "looks" like simple death when in fact the person's system is drugged so it can't react to the implosion that goes on in the person's body. Or a baby is circumcised against his wishes and some still believe he won't remember the terror that's on his face or in his scream while it's happening. It makes me question just how "civilized" this civilization is. Thinking about all those sci-fi movies with the droids with those glazed-over eyes and no emotion. Maybe those aren't droids. Maybe they're us after a couple more decades of the pharmaceutical influence in our lives. Think about it.
This effort to numb out comes from all directions. I attended the 1996 Supertournament of Champions wrestling tournament in February. I saw many wearing "No Fear" T-shirts. For those who don't know, it's a clothing line of shirts, pants and caps called "No Fear". The have a whole line of T-shirts with different statements that encourage No Fear. Numb out young. I remembered the story of the Samurai who knows fear yet doesn't suppress it and draws it from behind him to put it out in the front, placing it on the tip of his sword. He uses his fear and cuts with it. At the match, they had an airbrush artist who would put designs of mussel bound bulldogs and such on T-shirts. I decided to get my own made. It says, "No Fear, No Tears, Die Numb". Several people came up to me at the match and said they liked it. One dad, who had two sons in the competition, said he wanted to produce more of them. Go for it, I said. In fact, it's open for anyone to use, as long as they don't try to limit its use by trying to copyright it. I would like grade and high school kids everywhere to really understand what it means to start numbing out at such an early age and the serious impact it will have on the rest of their lives. And, maybe it will bring a few of you back to life - with all of your fear, pain and sadness. And to feel your joy.
This numbing out supports our lack of action towards the problems our planet in facing. They have not gone away. We know that public media is controlled. Whatever government, schools, medical profession says must be right. However, hundreds of things the medical profession has said are okay in the last 30 years, have proven not to be.
The study of feedback has given us a new of tool. Every single
branch of government continues to hold secrets that we should know
about. The group Abstinence took the computer and starting charting
all of the primary major health issues over the last 30 years. And
they took all of policies from the government, FDA, National Academy
of Science and many other agencies and noted what they had decided on
major issues. They then reviewed the information on those same issues
so reported on a radio show in New York called "The Wake-Up Call".
Here's the phenomena. In 98% of the cases, history shows that the
government has been wrong. They supported DDT, valcon shields,
silicon breast implants, and on and on. Now, after a 100 major
issues, wouldn't you think that if you were wrong 98% of the time,
the people would do something about it. Unfortunately, the
manipulation of major media, even talk-shows, is so well-done that
most of us fail to do anything about it when the news breaks, and
soon forget that it even happened. This demonstrates how important it
is to access independent media and ideas. The Net (before the
government controls kill it) and a series of small publications can
still be found at some of the more open bookstores. Some radio
programs like "The Wake-Up Call" on WBAI 99.5 FM from 6-10AM Mon-Thu
in New York. Try to get it syndicated in your city. Accurate
information outside of opinion is the only way we can truly find
solutions to the problems of our planet. We are proud to have access
to the research of Dr. Gary Null who studies the underlying assault
on deceitful people within our government and society that are
manipulating people by misinforming them. Please refer to the listing
of organizations/publications in the Resource section under Alternative
Information and then take some action. Any action. Do
something!
Let's Hear it for Testosterone!
Hill, Aubrey, The Testosterone Solution: Increase your
energy and vigor with male hormone therapy, Prima Publishing,
www.primapubilshing.com
1997
Shippen, Eugene & Fryer, William, The Testosterone
Syndrome: The critical factor for energy, health &
sexuality-reversing the male menopause, M. Evans
& Co, 1998
Of the fifteen leading causes of death in the U.S., it's a man's privilege to lead in every single category, yet little governmental interest is directed to reducing the incidence of death for boys/men. Men die at higher rates in every area of cancer except breast cancer. (Lip/oral 3.6M/1.3W; digestive organs 38.6M/23.1W; respiratory 59.3M/25.4W; genital 16.1M/12.0W; urinary 7.7M/3.0W; Leukemia 6.3M/3.9W; Other lymphatic & hematopoietix tissues 9.4M/6.2W; all other & unspecified sites 21.3M/13.8W.) And, according to the National Cancer Institute 1993, for the period 1950-1991, women's rate of death from breast cancer increased 2% to 16.7/100,000 while men's rate of death from prostate cancer increased 25% to 13.3/100,000. This ratio shows that 1.25 women die of breast cancer for every man who dies of prostate cancer. And it is the biggest cancer killer of men and ever great for black men. Furthermore, women have a slightly better survival rate from breast cancer (80.4) versus men from prostate cancer (79.6). Even with this information, considerably more attention and funding has been given to breast cancer (which is deserved attention), with little or no attention, and no federal health care provisions given to prostate or testicular cancer (which hits the virtually unaware adolescent population), which also deserves attention!
The Men's Defense Assoc of Forest Lake, MN contends that "gender gap" in health care works to the disadvantage of men. It points out that Congress has already been pressured to appropriate more than four times as much funds for breast cancer research as for prostate cancer research. In 1993, The National Cancer Institute spent $213.7 million on breast cancer research while $51.1 million was spent on the study of prostate cancer. Another group, the National Coalition for Free Men, issued a study showing that men's health has dramatically decreased over the past 70 years. In 1920, the group says, the life span of men and women was about the same. Today, women live 6 years longer on average.
Even when the Men's Health Network tried (and succeeded) to get a week specified for men's health for the year 1994, it was a major undertaking. It consumed too much time and effort to make it happen since.
In California, sufferers of prostate cancer lost a $36 million battle when the Assembly turned down a proposed 2-cents-a-pack cigarette tax that would have raised funds for research and treatment. The measure, which would have put the men's disease on equal par with breast cancer for cigarette tax revenues, was just three votes shy of the 54-vote, two-thirds margin needed for passage.
Sacramento Bee - A study released recently suggests that implanting radioactive "seeds" in men with early prostate cancer is not only as effective as surgery, but it also carries fewer side effects.
And, while many men hate to discuss the subject with their doctors, researchers say they should because impotence can be a sign of more than just age. Sexual problems often increase when a man is depressed; impotence also can be caused by heart disease, high blood pressure or high cholesterol. All these diseases can be life threatening, but they also can be treated.
Stanford University. Two prominent scientists, saying prospects
are dismal for a male pill, want men to share the burden of birth
control by freezing and banking their sperm, they getting
vasectomies.
On the issue of consumer protection and hazardous warnings, here's a new one Those yellow sponges with the green plastic fibers on the back for scrubbing pots-"Pot Scrubbers"-should be kept far away from our birds, fish, reptiles, cats and dogs, hamsters and whatevers. (Ed - We haven't been able to find any such product, by the name "Pot Scrubbers" nor any sponge that includes a listing of ingredients or a warning about a danger to anything.)
Proctor & Gamble, in its continuing search to make America look clean and smell great, has a new "improved" version of the sponge on the market that kills odor-causing fungi that get in the sponge after a few uses. They make a big deal out of this innovation on the outside packaging. (Ed. - It didn't make sense that P&G would go into this market. They only enter high volume markets where they can control the number 1 and 2 spot. Sponges is not in that league. So, I called P&G. They don't make a sponge product says Davon Jones (513.945.8432).
A friend of a friend of mine used one of these sponges to clean the glass on a 200-gallon aquarium. The abrasive backs are good for removing algae and smutz that collect on the inside of the tank. He refilled the tank and after the water had time to condition and rid itself of chlorine, he reintroduced his tropical fish collection of some 30 fish. Within five hours of putting the fish back in the tank, they were all dead!
Some began to die after only 30 minutes. He removed the survivors to another tank but they all died. Retracing his steps to clean the tank, the only thing that was different was using that new kind of sponge-he'd used the regular old Pot Scrubbers for years.
Lo and behold he discovered on the back of the packaging in about the finest print you could put on plastic a description of the fungicide (Triclosan) in the sponge and the warning in tiny boldface letters, "Not for use in aquariums. Keep away from other pets."
Thanks for the warning, Proctor & Gamble. It seems the fungicide is a derivative of the systemic pesticide-herbicide, 2-4-D, more popularly known as Agent Orange, the chemical we sprayed all over Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War that many veterans and war refugees say did them permanent damage to their lungs and nervous systems. (Ed. It is also an ingredient in such products as Colgate Total toothpaste.)
The package warning goes on to say they fungicide cannot be washed from the sponge even if it is placed in the dishwasher (in which case Agent Orange is now all over your dishes and drinking glasses). And, if you think it's there to kill disease-causing bacteria like Salmonella from contaminated chicken meat, think again-it's not an effective enough bactericide to kill those kind of bugs.
By the way, the same chemical in the sponge (Triclosan) is used now in many of those popular antibacterial, anti-viral disinfectant liquid soaps (Ultra-dawn Antibacterial dishwashing soap) and hand cleaners that are flooding the market. (Ed. This is true. Triclosan is the active ingredient in most of the antibacterial soaps we saw, including Dial for Kids. The only warning we say on any of these was on the Kids product which said not for consumption. The email we received didn't give any contact numbers to call and complain, which always makes me suspicious, almost guaranteeing a hoax. So, I've added the following contact numbers for those antibacterial soaps that contain Triclosan: Suave, Helene Curtis, 800.598.5005; Soft-soap by Colgate, 800.255.7552, Dial for Kids, 800.258.DIAL. There was one "Hand Sanitizer", Purell by Gold Industries that used 62% ethyl alcohol as the active ingredient which meets OSHA standards and leaves no harmful residue. And, that's it.)
If you are interested in looking at the research, you can go to
Quantex Laboratories on line at
http://www.quantexlabs.com/page0004.htm (Ed. - I haven't had access
to check this out. It's probably a hoax also. It's interesting that
all these products with Triclosan in them have no warning labels if
there really is any danger - washing my hands without water and then
eating food. It just doesn't make sense.)
Prevalence of Aspirin Use to Prevent Heart
Disease
Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended that regular low-dose aspirin should be considered for men aged greater than or equal to 40 years who were at substantially increased risk for MI and who lacked contraindications to the drug (4). To assess the prevalence of self-reported, regular aspirin use to prevent heart disease among adults aged greater than or equal to 45 years, both the Wisconsin and Michigan state health departments collected information in their Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) surveys (in 1991 and 1994, respectively). This report summarizes the results of these surveys, which indicate that a high proportion of adults in those states used aspirin regularly to prevent heart disease.
The BRFSS is a random-digit-dialed survey of the U.S. civilian, non institutionalized population aged greater than 18 years. In 1991, the Wisconsin BRFSS included the question "Do you take aspirin regularly to reduce your chances of having a heart attack?" In 1994, Michigan asked "Do you take aspirin daily or every other day to reduce your chance of a heart attack or stroke?" Responses were obtained from 548 and 1137 adults aged greater than or equal to 45 years in Wisconsin and Michigan, respectively. The overall prevalence of aspirin use was 19.5% in Wisconsin in 1991 and 25.3% in Michigan in 1994. Because univariate results in each state were similar, the data were combined for more detailed analyses using SUDAAN. Statistical associations between explanatory variables and aspirin use were tested using the chi-square test of association. For those variables with an overall statistically significant association with aspirin use (p less than 0.05), pairwise comparisons of age-adjusted prevalence estimates were performed (Table 1). Age-adjusted estimates were calculated using the pooled age distribution from both data sets. A composite risk-score variable also was constructed using a combination of three risk factors--current smoking, overweight, and inactivity.
The overall prevalence of aspirin use in the combined data was 23.3% (Table 1). Prevalences increased directly with age from 16.0% of persons aged 45-54 years to 22.0%, 28.8% and 33.3% for persons aged 55-64, 65-74, and greater than or equal to 75 years, respectively. Age-adjusted prevalences were higher for men (27.7%) than women (20.1%), current (25.5%) and former smokers (28.8%) than respondents who never smoked (18.0%) (Table 1), and persons who engaged in regular leisure-time physical activity (26.3%) than persons who were inactive (20.8%). There were no statistically significant associations between aspirin use and race, education, income, overweight, or composite risk-score. Prevalences were similar when the analysis was stratified by sex. Reported by: MJ Reeves, PhD, H McGee, MPH, AP Rafferty, PhD, Michigan Dept of Community Health, Lansing. P Remington, MD, E Cautley, MS, Wisconsin Div of Health and Family Svcs, Madison. Editorial Note: Approximately 40% of all deaths in the United States are attributed to CVD, and annual direct and indirect costs of CVD have been estimated to be $259 billion (5). In addition to population-based approaches to reducing CVD risk factors, prevention efforts should include efficacious and cost-effective therapies to both reduce the incidence of MI (primary prevention), and to prevent further cardiac events in persons who have had a CVD event (secondary prevention). Although the effectiveness of regular aspirin use for primary prevention has not been determined for the general population, aspirin use for secondary prevention has been documented to be effective and is widely recommended (6).
Although the 1989 USPSTF guidelines were specific to high-risk men, the findings in this report indicate that a high proportion of women reported taking aspirin regularly, despite the absence of any specific recommendations about prophylactic aspirin use in women. Some physicians may be prescribing aspirin for their female patients despite the USPSTF recommendations, and some women may be deciding independently to initiate aspirin use.
The proportion of adults in this survey who reported taking aspirin to reduce their risk for heart disease was higher than in a similar study in New York (7), possibly reflecting differences in physician practice patterns or differences in the age structure of the two populations. Other factors related to the prevalence of aspirin use for heart disease prevention include the underlying prevalences of CVD risk factors, of preexisting CVD, and variations in public awareness about prophylactic aspirin use.
Although this study did not distinguish between aspirin use for primary or secondary prevention, some of the findings suggest that aspirin use was more common among health-conscious persons. For example, the prevalence of aspirin use was higher among physically active persons. However, prevalence of aspirin use was higher among the elderly, men, and current and former smokers, suggesting that aspirin may have been used for secondary prevention.
The findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, data about regular aspirin use for heart disease prevention was self-reported. As a result, respondents may have over reported aspirin use if they confused prophylactic use with the use of aspirin-like drugs (e.g., ibuprofen) for reasons other than CVD prevention. Second, because aspirin use for primary or secondary prevention was not distinguished, the extent to which the results represent use for primary prevention or for therapy initiated following important cardiovascular events (e.g., MI or stroke) could not be determined. However, based on National Health Interview Survey findings, the prevalence of ischemic heart disease was 6.1% for U.S. adults aged 45-64 years and 15.3% for adults aged greater than or equal to 65 years (8). By assuming that all patients with ischemic heart disease use aspirin regularly, most regular aspirin users in Wisconsin and Michigan probably were using this drug for primary prevention. Third, although the data were adjusted for age and separate analyses were performed for men and women, some of the findings may be confounded by unmeasured CVD risk factors (e.g., hypertension and high cholesterol).
Since collection of the BRFSS data in Wisconsin and Michigan, the second USPSTF report concluded that evidence was insufficient to recommend for or against prophylactic aspirin use for primary prevention of MI in asymptomatic men or women (9). Data were insufficient to determine whether the reduced risk for MI in low-risk men is outweighed by the potential risks for adverse effects associated with long-term aspirin use (e.g., gastrointestinal ulceration, hemorrhagic stroke, and sudden death) (3,9). The findings in this report indicate that substantial proportions of the populations in Wisconsin and Michigan used aspirin regularly to prevent heart disease, despite the lack of conclusive data on the relative benefits and harms when used for primary prevention. The state health departments in Michigan and Wisconsin are conducting studies to determine whether patients consult their physicians before initiating regular aspirin use for primary prevention of CVD and whether their prophylactic aspirin use is appropriate given their risk factor profile and possible contraindications.
References
1. Antiplatelet Trialists' Collaboration. Secondary prevention of
vascular disease by prolonged antiplatelet treatment. Br Med J
1988;296:320-31.
2. Fuster V, Cohen M, Chesebro JH. Usefulness of aspirin for coronary
artery disease. Am J Cardiol 1988;61:637-40.
3. Anonymous. Final report on the aspirin component of the ongoing
Physicians' Health Study. N Engl J Med 1989;321:129-35.
4. US Preventive Services Task Force. Aspirin prophylaxis. In: US
Preventive Services Task Force. Guide to clinical preventive
services. 1st ed. Baltimore, Maryland: Williams and Wilkins,
1989.
5. American Heart Association. Heart and stroke facts: 1997
statistical update. Dallas, Texas: National Center, 1997; AHA
publication no. 55-0524.
6. Smith SC Jr, Blair SN, Criqui MH, et al. Preventing heart attack
and death in patients with coronary disease. Circulation
1995;92:2-4.
7. Murray JA, Lewis C, Pearson TA, Jenkins PL, Nafziger AN.
Prevalence and population characteristics of aspirin use in the
primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Am J
Epidemiol 1995;141:S71.
8. Adams PF, Marano MA. Current estimates from the National Health
Interview Survey, 1992. Vital Health Stat 1994;10:189.
9. US Preventive Services Task Force. Aspirin prophylaxis for the
primary prevention of myocardial infarction. In: US Preventive
Services Task Force. Guide to clinical preventive services. 2nd ed.
Baltimore, Maryland: Williams and Wilkins, 1996.
Vegetarians Have Beef With Tennessee
Governor
From Designer Milk To 'Green' Cows:
Predictions For Milk And Dairy Products In The Next 50 Years
Study Records Elevated Mercury From Diets
Heavy With Fish
Pig Genes Modified For Organ Uses
Patients With Chronic Illness Not Benefiting From Advances In Care
Computerised
Guidelines Are No "Magic Bullet"
Many Don't Grasp Info on Risks of Medical
Research (10/25/02)
Grandpa's Diet Affects Grandkids'
Well-Being
Scales Tip In Favor Of New Food Pyramid
Bread Crust And
Stuffing Rich In Healthy Antioxidants
Renewing CPR Skills Benefits Others
Iron Deficiency In The United States
2,000 Extra Steps A Day: Colorado
Walking It Off
Healthy Living: Get Moving! Add Daily
Exercise To Fitness Mix, Experts Say
Experts: Get Flu Shot Now If You're At
Risk
Patients Often Miss Out On Nutrition
Counseling, At Cost To Health
Blood-Test Labs Bypass Doctors, Spurring
Debate
In a suburban strip mall midway between downtown Denver and
health-conscious Boulder, there is a place where people can go and
order blood tests to detect any number of medical problems, like high
cholesterol, diabetes, HIV and prostate and ovarian cancer.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8012/346997.html
A new study across 20 countries reveals for the first time just how much bigger the risk of premature death is for men than women, whatever their age.
In the US in 1998, for example, men up to the age of 50 were on average twice as likely as women to keel over, and the risk remained greater even for those men who had made it to their eighties and beyond. Less surprisingly, the discrepancy in death rates between men and women was most extreme between the ages of 20 and 24, when three times as many men die as women.
"Being male is now the single largest demographic factor for early death," says Randolph Nesse of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Heart disease to homicide
Nesse says that the finding has important implications for public health. "If you could make male mortality rates the same as female rates, you would do more good than curing cancer," he says.
Nesse's colleague Daniel Kruger estimates that over 375,000 lives would be saved in a single year in the US if men's risk of dying was as low as women's.
The US data is backed by death rates in countries including Ireland, Australia, Russia, Singapore and El Salvador. Nesse and Kruger found that everywhere they looked, it is more perilous to be male. In Colombia for example, men in their early twenties are five times as likely to die as women of the same age. Even more surprisingly, the pattern holds for every major cause of death, from car crashes to heart disease to homicide.
For external causes of death, such as accidents, the difference between the sexes is greatest for young adults. But the second largest disparity between men and women in the US occurs when they reach their sixties. At that point in their life, men are 1.68 times as likely to die as women, mainly due to disease.
Reproductive success
The gender gap has widened dramatically in recent years, but it has been on the rise since the 1940s, at least in the US, France, Japan and Sweden, where historical figures are available. The researchers suggest a number of factors that could be to blame for the trend.
Population growth and globetrotting have led to a rise in infectious diseases. And improvements in public health and medicine may have benefited women more than men: for instance, far fewer women now die at a relatively young age during childbirth. Technological advances may have played a part, too, by supplying men with more powerful guns and ever faster cars.
Nesse and Kruger say that sexual selection could also partly explain some of the differences. Men generally invest less in their children than women do, and as a result may compete more vigorously with each other for potential mate.
This rivalry could be what drives them to take greater risks, with
the result that men have evolved greater reproductive success at the
expense of longevity. The same may be true for chimpanzees and even
fruit flies, says Nesse.
Source: Betsy Mason, www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992586
Study Hints Lean Means Longer Life
Flu Vaccine Good For All Adults, Not
Just Elderly Or Ill
Study Offers New Insights Into Overcoming
Disparities In Health
Paying Cash for Medical Visits
Improved Drug Regimens Help Patients Take
Their Medicine
New York Men Tell It Like It Is
Compiled from focus groups held around the state, the report serves as the basis of understanding men's concerns in designing healthcare services that are more male-friendly. As one man put it, "As a man, if I'm sick, I have to be real sick…'can't get outa bed sick,' I have this thing inside me that says, `I can't go; I don't wanna go (to the doctor).' Other men mentioned insensitive attitudes among healthcare practitioners as the problem.
Source: The report was compiled by Joseph Zoske, a
men's health promotion specialist in Albany, NY. A free copy of the
report can be obtained by calling Ellen Mullen at 315.437.7026, Ext.
123, or at Ellen.Mullen@cancer.org
Men Needed To Solve Nurse Shortage
Improving Communications And
Support For Doctors, Patients And Partners
Husbands Of Fibromylagia Sufferers In
Slightly Poorer Health, More Depressed Than Other Men
Kellogg Foundation Releases Landmark Report
on Men's Health
The report examines health statistics, provides the social context, and includes case studies. The document concludes: "It is difficult to dispute the health crisis among men of color in the United States. Black men have a lower life expectancy at birth than White males and the lowest life expectancy of any racial group of either gender."
The Kellogg Foundation is one of the largest philanthropic
organizations in the United States. The 30-page report can be
obtained free of charge by calling 800.819.9997, or by going to the
website: www.communityvoices.org
Climate change linked to disease
epidemics (6/20/02)
A team of researchers led by Drew Harvell at Cornell University have completed a two-year study into climate-disease links. "What is most surprising is the fact that climate sensitive outbreaks are happening with so many different types of pathogens - viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites - as well as in such a wide range of hosts including corals, oysters, terrestrial plants and birds," Harvell says.
Co-researcher Richard Ostfeld, an animal ecologist at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York adds: "This isn't just a question of coral bleaching for a few marine ecologists, nor just a question of malaria for a few health officials - the number of similar increases in disease incidence is astonishing. We don't want to be alarmist, but we are alarmed."
The US team found evidence for a variety of routes for climate warming to adversely affect disease spread. For instance, warmer winters could reduce seasonal die-off of many pathogens and their carriers, or allow them to move into areas that were previously too cold. Other possibilities include the spread of pathogens that thrive on warmer water, the joining of pathogen and potential hosts populations previously separated by climate factors.
The researchers examined a number of human diseases whose spread
researchers have connected to warming, including malaria, Lyme
disease, yellow fever and others. Most involved the expanded range of
carriers into higher latitudes. The authors concede that such
connections are controversial because countless factors besides
climate, such as economics and failed prevention measures, play roles
in the spread of human diseases. Men Talk.
Source: Mark Schrope, Journal reference:
Science (vol 296, p 2158) www.healthlinkusa.com/getpage.asp?http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992438
HHS Issues New
Statistical Look At Women's Health
Editor's Note: Two things of interest about this story: 1. Is there going to be such a report on men? Doubtful, because that list shows men leading in all 10 top killers of people in the U.S. Things that generally don't kill like osteoporosis and asthma, seem to be more important, so they get all of the press.This is just one example of why having a Men's Health Commission is important. 2. It is from the Harvard Medical School's InteliHealth.com web site. If you want to know a
