The United States – Health by the Numbers
There are 207 countries in the world. The U.S. spends more on “health” care than the next 10 biggest spenders combined (Japan, France, China, UK, Italy, Canada, Brazil, Spain, and Australia), yet we have worst outcomes. Americans have a shorter lifespan and higher rates of injury and disease than their counterparts in other rich countries.
The 6th leading cause of death is doctors mistakes.
The 3rd leading cause of death in the United States are:
- Medical errors – Medical mistakes kill 440.000 Americans a year
- Patient Safety America
- BMJ – Medical Error(podcast)
The Health of Millennials (born between 1981 – 1996) Phenomenon – a study was done by BCBS in 04/2019: Please take a look at these charts of age of 24-39 in 2020. It is very alarming.
The Burnout Crisis in American Medicine – The Atlantic 05/11/2018 – The electronic Medical records and demanding regulations contributing to a historic doctor shortage? This is “very true” according to my MD / PA friends.
The United States is the…
7th highest cancer country in the world.
A 2nd fattest country in the world (excluding small islands in the Pacific). The airline industry in the US spent $5 billion on extra jet fuel costs to transport people who are overweight. (We just lost our #1 status to Mexico in 2015.) This is the chart of “2018’s Fattest Cities in America“.
1st in diabetes rates in people 20 years and older. By 2044, the cost of caring for “diabetics” will exceed all the taxes the federal government collects. We consume 150 lb of sugar per year, which exceeds more than another country in the world.
yet, we are
178th in infant mortality rate – of 207 countries!
One in…
3 American women will develop cancer.
2 American men will develop cancer.
5 Americans take psychiatric medication on a daily basis and 7 in 10 Americans take one or more pills every day. (By age 40 at least 1, by 50 average is 4, and by 60 average is 6.
Annually, there are over:
7.5 million unnecessary medical and surgical procedures are performed.
8.9 million people are hospitalized unnecessarily.
784,000 deaths occur each year caused by mishaps – unintentionally caused by a doctor or medical treatment (2003)
200,000 people die from Diabetes complications, 90% of which are preventable with a healthier weight and lifestyle.
400,000 people who die from Heart Disease, 80% could be prevented with proper health and weight loss.
60,000 liver failures each year from Tylenol.
700,000 Emergency room visits per year due to “adverse drug reactions”.
106, 000 Deaths due to Adverse Drug Reactions.
108,000 Americans who die of “Properly Prescribed” and “Properly Taken” western drugs, compared to 22,000 Americans who die of an overdose of an illegal drug.
Every 18 minutes somebody dies from a prescription overdose.
While the U.S. makes up only 5% of the world’s population, Americans consume over 50% of all the world’s pharmaceuticals.
Here is the link to the article “Death by Medicine” Dr. David Brady’s e-magazine
80% of the world’s pain pills (painkiller medication) are consumed by Americans
70% of Americans take at least one prescription medication.
45% of Americans, have at least one “Chronic” disease.
ADHD diagnoses in U.S. children rose 53% in the past decade.
More than 259 million prescriptions for opioids are written in the U.S. each year— an astounding 1 in 5 patients with a pain-related diagnosis is prescribed opioids. More than 12 million Americans report using prescription painkillers for nonmedical purposes and 2 million Americans over the age of 12 are addicted specifically to opioid painkillers. One in 4 Americans and 1 in 3 millennials report knowing someone addicted to opioids. (An unexpected reaction to prescribed medications happens. I call it “the drug cocktail”. The same goes for over-the-counter drugs. Certain allergy medications and cough syrup, for example, can make you drowsy and the side effects may linger well into the next day.)
There is a crisis in Massachusetts. Why do we have a 900% (this is no typo. nine hundred %!) increase in babies being born addicted to opiates? Overprescribing by doctors might be one reason. Their parents are on pain meds and give birth to Opiate babies. Newborns treated for withdrawal per 1,000 live hospital births tripled from 2006 to 2012, three-time more than the national average. Why Massachusetts? This is the powerhouse of “Big Pharma.”
Very different from where I came from:
I grew up in the smaller city, Kobe, Japan in ’60s-’70s. The late 70’s, MacDonald and Mr. Donuts opened up the first restaurant in Kobe. That was the beginning of the supermarket, and franchise restaurants opened up in the cities that was the beginning of westernization in terms of the food industry Japanese people started to eat more bread than rice as their breakfast, eat more meat dishes than fish dishes, prefer to have a cake set with a cup of coffee as dessert than mochi rice with a cup of green tea. However, Japan still holds the highest longevity in the world. Not everything is great in Japan but just take a look at breast cancer risk. The U.S. holds the highest incidence of breast cancer and japan holds the lowest incidence of breast cancer. Infant mortality rate in the U.S. is 7 per 1,000 births and Japan is 3.5 per 1,000 birth which is the lowest incidence in the world. I believe these two comparisons, as well as the rate of hypothyroidism, goiter, weight gain, mental retardation, and possibly infertility, are related to the lowest amount of iodine deficiency because the Japanese relocated to the U.S. and start eating American diet will quickly join the statistic of cancer, thyroid issues, etc.
The Southern tip of Okinawa Island is known for the highest number of centenarians alive in the world. Here is the article from The Blue Zones (9 lessons for living longer from the people who’ve lived the longest). The oldest woman who broke the Guinness record in 2019 is a Japanese woman who was born in 1903. She is 116 years old. I can hardly imagine how life would be growing up in the very early 1900s. Can you? She enjoys playing games with numbers and socializing and the oldest men who broke the Guinness record in 2019 are also Japanese. He is 112 years old loves to keep himself busy with playing games and socializing. I listened to their talk. They were not mumbling but very clear with their answers. It is truly amazing and inspiring. Well, here in the U.S., we spend 2.5 times more than “the rest of the countries combined” on health care. You would think, with spending an enormous amount of money, we would be the healthiest and happiest people in the world, right? The U.S. ranked at the bottom of the list. What are we missing? What are we doing wrong?
