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Publications - Highlighted Journal Articles
March 2012
Journals Reviewed
American Journal of Public Health
http://www.ajph.org/current.shtml
Environmental Health Perspectives
http://www.ehponline.org/
Health Affairs
http://www.healthaffairs.org/
The Journal of the American Medical Association
http://jama.ama-assn.org/
The Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law
http://jhppl.dukejournals.org/archive/
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwr_wk.html
The New England Journal of Medicine
http://content.nejm.org/current.shtml
Preventing Chronic Disease
CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/
Journal Articles
A Conflict Between Nutritionally Adequate Diets and
Meeting the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Sodium
http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(11)00842-7/abstract
Compliance with dietary
guidelines means incorporating multiple foods and nutrients into
everyday diets, to be consumed in smaller or larger amounts. Feasibility
studies can help determine whether one nutrient guideline comes into
conflict with another. …
Compliance with the 2010 sodium guidelines will require large deviations
from current eating behaviors and/or a profound modification of the U.S.
food supply.
Program, Policy, and Price Interventions for Tobacco
Control: Quantifying the Return on Investment of a State Tobacco Control
Program
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300506
We examined health effects associated
with 3 tobacco control interventions in Washington State: a
comprehensive state program, a state policy banning smoking in public
places, and price increases. … The combined program, policy, and price
interventions resulted in reductions in smoking and related health
effects, while saving money. Public health and other leaders should
continue to invest in tobacco control, including comprehensive programs.
Prevalence of Obesity and Trends in the Distribution of
Body Mass Index Among US Adults, 1999-2010
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/early/2012/01/11/jama.2012.39.full
In 2009-2010, the prevalence of
obesity was 35.5% among adult men and 35.8% among adult women, with no
significant change compared with 2003-2008. … Overall trends in obesity
in the adult population of the United States can be tracked using
national survey data that include measured heights and weights. Based on
national survey data, the population prevalence of obesity, defined as a
body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater (calculated as weight in
kilograms divided by height in meters squared), showed little change in
the period 1960 through 1980, followed by an increase of almost 8
percentage points between the 1976-1980 survey and the 1988-1994 survey,
with a similar increase between the 1988-1994 survey and the 1999-2000
survey.1,2,3 Over the
period 1999-2008, however, there were smaller changes in the prevalence
among men than seen previously and no significant change in prevalence
among women.3 Changes in the prevalence of obesity reflect changes in
the distribution of BMI in the population. Previous analyses showed
increases across almost the entire distribution of BMI with larger
changes at higher BMI levels.
Teens Lacking in Protection
Against Hepatitis A
http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/Vaccines/30789
Most adolescents have not been
vaccinated against hepatitis A virus, leaving them vulnerable to serious
disease as they move into adulthood, a cross-sectional study showed. In
2009, only 42% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 had received at least one
dose of the vaccine and only 29.5% had received two doses, according to
Christina Dorell, MD, MPH, of the CDC's National Center for Immunization
and Respiratory Diseases in Atlanta, and colleagues. Rates were highest
in states that had been covered by recommendations for routine hepatitis
A vaccination the longest, the researchers reported in the February
issue of Pediatrics.
Improving Childhood
Vaccination Rates
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1113008?query=TOC&
Recently, the mother of a young child
confessed to me that she didn't know any parents who were following the
recommended immunization schedule for their children. She said that when
she told her pediatrician she'd like to follow an alternative schedule,
the physician had simply acquiesced, leading her to assume that the
recommended schedule had no advantage over the one she suggested. … At
first glance, U.S. vaccination rates appear reasonable: coverage among
children entering kindergarten exceeds 90% for most recommended
vaccines. A closer look, however, reveals substantial local variation.
In Washington State's San Juan County, for example, 72% of
kindergartners and 89% of sixth graders are either noncompliant with or
exempt from vaccination requirements for school entry. Only 52.5% of
kindergartners and 4% of sixth graders were adequately immunized against
pertussis for the 2010–2011 school year.1 Not surprisingly, the county
also has one of the state's highest incidence rates of pertussis.
Doctors telling more adults: Get out and exercise
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2017464909_apusmeddoctorsorders.html
More and more U.S. adults are being
told by their doctor to get out and exercise, according to government
survey released Thursday. Nearly 33 percent of adults who saw a doctor
in the previous year said they were told to exercise. That was up from
about 23 percent in 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported. The report also found more women got that advice than men. And
among people with chronic health problems, diabetics, were the most
likely to get the advice and cancer patients were least likely.
Recommended Immunization Schedules for Persons Aged 0
Through 18 Years — United States, 2012
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6105a5.htm
Each year, the Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices (ACIP) publishes immunization schedules for
persons aged 0 through 18 years. These schedules summarize
recommendations for currently licensed vaccines for children aged 0
through 6 years and 7 through 18 years and include recommendations in
effect as of December 23, 2011. Vaccination providers are being advised
to use all three schedules and their respective footnotes together and
not separately.
Government and School Progress to Promote a Healthful
Diet to American Children and Adolescents
http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(11)00922-6/abstract
Public-sector stakeholders have missed
opportunities to promote healthy eating environments for young people.
Government could optimally use all policy tools—incentives and
disincentives, education, legislation, regulation, and legal actions.
Schools could more effectively engage parents, promote national
nutrition standards and available guidelines, provide technical
assistance, require mandatory reporting of wellness policies, and
evaluate collective efforts.
Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine Should Be Given To Boys,
According To AAP
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/242202.php
A recent study, published in the
journal Pediatrics , explains that males should be getting the vaccine
for human papilloma viruses (HPV), not only females. It is recommended
by professionals that young people should start receiving the vaccine
around age 11.
Rare diseases: Genomics, plain and simple
http://www.nature.com/news/rare-diseases-genomics-plain-and-simple-1.10125
The Clinic for Special Children, it seems, has found a way to apply the
basic tools of genomics to save lives, money and resources. At the
clinic, two paediatricians, a molecular geneticist and their staff have
tools such as sequencers, microarrays and a LightScanner, which detects
gene mutations. Using these tools, they nimbly stitch together the
elements of basic science and clinical practice necessary to move from a
blood sample to DNA analysis, all the way to diagnosis and treatment —
sometimes in a matter of days. By doing so, the clinic has achieved what
many others in genomic medicine are struggling to do. Although genome
sequencing is creeping into clinical care around the world, it has yet
to become an integral part of everyday medical practice. “We've talked
about the thousand-dollar genome and the million-dollar interpretation,”
says Eric Topol, a genomicist at the Scripps Research Institute in La
Jolla, California. “The challenging bottleneck is the process of trying
to nail down which DNA variation is the root cause.”
The Crisis for Public Health Funding
http://www.networkforphl.org/the_network_blog/2012/03/06/92/the_crisis_for_public_health_funding
Public health departments and programs are often the first and last line
of defense against chronic disease and acute health problems.
Unfortunately, their funding, and with it their ability to help protect
and provide for health and safety, is being eroded. The facts are grim:
Public health budgets have been cut drastically in recent years.
According to the Trust for America’s Health, only 17 states did not cut
funding for public health from 2008/09 to 2009/10. In 2010, more than
half of local health departments reported reductions in their core
funding. This trend continued in July 2011 when 45 percent of LHDs
reported reduced operating budgets compared to the previous fiscal year,
and more than half (52%) expect cuts in the next fiscal year as well. In
2010/11, states have cut funding for tobacco prevention and cessation
programs by 12 percent.
Bending the Obesity Cost Curve
http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/TFAH%202012ObesityBrief06.pdf
Keeping people healthier is one of the most common sense and effective
ways to reduce health care costs. Obesity is one of the biggest drivers
ofpreventable chronic diseases and health care costs in the country.
Two-thirds of Americans are either obese or overweight, and obesity is
related to more than 30 illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, heart
disease and some forms of cancer. The Trust for America’s Health (TFAH)
and Micro Health Simulations conducted an analysis to examine how much
the United States could save in health care costs if obesity rates were
reduced by five percent. The analysis found that the country could save
$29.8 billion in five years, $158.1 billion in 10 years and $611.7
billion in 20 years.
Red Meat Increases Risk Of Cancer, Heart Disease And
Death
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/242779.php
People who eat more red meat seem to
have a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and cancer and
all-cause mortality, says a study published Online First in the Archives
of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archive journals. Those who
substitute red meat with other foods, such as fish and poultry are
linked to a lower risk of mortality. The study's background information
says that in many diets the key source for protein and fat is meat, and
yet earlier research shows that the consumption of meat is linked to a
higher risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and certain types
of cancer.
News releases
Whooping cough cases reach
epidemic levels in much of Washington
http://www.doh.wa.gov/Publicat/2012_news/12-038.htm
Today Secretary of Health Mary Selecky announced that whooping cough
disease has reached epidemic levels in Washington. So far in 2012, 640
cases have been reported in 23 counties as of March 31. This compares to
94 cases during this same time period last year, putting Washington
on-pace to have the highest number of reported cases in decades. “We’re
very concerned about the continued rapid increase in reported cases,”
said Secretary of Health Mary Selecky. “This disease can be very serious
for young babies, who often get whooping cough from adults and other
family members. We want all teens and adults who haven’t had Tdap to be
vaccinated to help protect babies that are too young for the vaccine.”
(See letter from
State Health Officer Dr. Maxine Hayes)
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