Miscellaneous Health Topics

Some items of interest from the world of medicine:

1. Heart Disease:

Heart disease continues to be number one killer. This was recognized in the late 1940s. Since then several risk factors have been identified, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol level and cigarette smoking.

Over the past 30 years, death rate from heart disease has declined by more than 50 percent. This downward trend is continuing. Despite important advances in treatment and prevention, heart disease remains the single most common cause of death in North America.
(The New England Journal of Medicine, September 24, 1998)

2. Alcohol Problems in Canada:

In 1994, 4.1 percent of Canadians had alcohol dependence. Excessive alcohol abuse was a factor in 6701 deaths in this country in 1992. Clearly, alcohol abuse is an important public health issue that needs to be dealt with.

In a recent publication, Poulin and colleagues found that 85 percent of Canadians with alcohol dependence do not seek help, the need for screening and brief interventions is great.
(Canadian Medical Association Journal, Dec 1, 1997)

3. Teenage Girls and Smoking:

Weight control is a major reason that teenage girls take up smoking, according to a study of nearly 3000 British and Canadian school girls.

Girls who smoked were 30 percent more likely to be overweight, were prone to overeat, and were twice as likely to be worried about their body image than non-smokers.

Most smokers also wanted to be considerably thinner than they were and were twice as likely as others to induce vomiting after overeating.
(British Medical Journal, August 8, 1998)

4. Doctors and Religion:

The Medical Post 1997 National Survey of Doctors reveals that 52 percent of physicians consider religion an important part of their life. 26 percent pray outside formal religious services at least once a day. For 13 percent, religious beliefs influence birth control consultations.
(National Survey: the Medical Post 1997 National Survey of Doctors, Fall 1997)

5. Good Health and Multivitamins:

Since the mid-1970s, twenty five percent of American adults have regularly consumed a multivitamin containing 400 micrograms of folic acid. The current evidence suggests that people who take such supplements and their children are healthier.

Consuming a standard multivitamin or a serving of fully fortified breakfast cereal is a convenient, effective, safe, and inexpensive way to increase consumption of folic acid by 400 micrograms of folic acid rapidly.

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