A brief look at heart disease

February 25, 2009

As a farewell to “American Heart Month,” here’s a brief synopsis of why the heart and its health affects so many of us:

  • Heart disease is the nation’s leading cause of death, responsible for 629,191 deaths in 2006 (National Vital Statistics System, 2006).
  • Heart disease is the nation’s leading diagnosis for hospitalization, at 4.2 million (National Hospital Discharge Survey, 2006).
  • Over 24 million visits to physician offices in 2006 resulted in a diagnoses of heart disease (National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2006).
  • About 11% of U.S. adults have ever been told by a doctor or other health professional they had heart disease (National Health Interview Survey, 2007).
  • About one in six Americans aged 20 years and over has elevated blood pressure and one in four has hypertension (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001-2004).

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Posted by Megan Cox

Report card for Nation’s health focuses on young adults aged 18-29

February 18, 2009
Young adults in the United States aged 18-29 face a number of health challenges, including increases in obesity, high injury rates, and a lack of insurance coverage compared to other adults, according to the latest report on the nation’s health from NCHS.
  • Obesity rates have tripled among young adults in the past three decades, rising from 8 percent in 1971-74 to 24 percent in 2005-06.
  • In 2006, 29 percent of young men were current cigarette smokers compared to 21 percent of young adult women.  
  • In 2005, unintentional injuries (‘‘accidents’’), homicide, and suicide accounted for 70 percent of deaths among young adults 18–29 years of age. Three-quarters of the 47,000 deaths in this age group occurred among young men. 
  • In 2006, young adults aged 20–24 were more likely to be uninsured (34 percent) than those aged 18–19 (21 percent) and those aged 25–29 (29 percent). 

    For more visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf.

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Posted by Megan Cox

A brief look at digestive disease

February 11, 2009
  • Health care visits for digestive symptoms.
    – Physician office visits: 35.9 million in 2006 and 28.7 in 2005 (link to 2006 and 2005 reports)
    – Hospital outpatient visits: 3.2 million in 2006 and 3.6 million in 2005 (link to 2006 and 2005 reports)
    – Emergency room visits: 7.2 million in 2006 and 6.9 million in 2005 (link to 2006 and 2005 reports).
  • Number of noninstitutionalized adults with diagnosed ulcers: 14.5 million in 2007–that is, 6% of adults aged 18 years and over have been diagnosed with an ulcer. Click here to go to more results from the National Health Interview Survey, 2007.

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Posted by Megan Cox

A brief look at homicide

February 4, 2009

Health care use:

1.8 million emergency department visits for assault
– National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2006

Mortality:

Number of deaths from homicide: 18,124
Deaths per 100,00 population: 6.1

Firearm homicide deaths: 12,352
Deaths per 100,000 population: 4.2
–Deaths: Final Data for 2005

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Posted by Megan Cox