December 6, 2000 [Volume 1, Issue 28]

"To Your Health" is brought to you by:

This issue features a number of articles you will want to share with your family, friends and co-workers. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to them via e-mail. If you have received this e-mail newsletter from someone else, you may subscribe free of charge and begin receiving your own copy by going to:

https://www.chiroweb.com/newsletter/TYH/subscribe.php

In this issue of To Your Health:

• When the Pain Doesn't Go Away
• More Activity = Lower Health Care Costs
• Got the Flu? Antibiotics Won't Help
• What Smoking Can Do to Your Baby

Imagine pain that doesn't go away, or that subsides for a few days, weeks or months but then returns. If you can do more than just imagine this condition, you're probably suffering from chronic pain - and you're not alone. Chronic pain is one of the most common reasons people seek health care, and they do it up to five times more frequently than the general population.

How serious is the problem? If the estimates in this study from England are any indication, very serious indeed. A random sample of 5,036 patients (age 25 and older) from 29 general practices completed questionnaires to assess the presence of chronic pain (three months' duration or more). Response data taken from the questionnaires revealed the widespread, debilitating nature of chronic pain:

• Overall, more than one of every two respondents (50.4%) reported suffering chronic pain.
  
  
• The proportion of respondents complaining of chronic pain increased dramatically with age, from 31.7% in the youngest age group (25-34 years old) to 62% in the oldest age group (75 years and older).
  
  
• 17.2% reported no need to use health care services for their pain, but 28% reported the highest need for such services.
  
  
• Age, sex, housing tenure, and employment status were identified as potential contributors to chronic pain.

If aches and pains are a daily or near-daily occurrence in your life, it's high time you sought the services of your local doctor of chiropractic! If you'd like more information on finding a chiropractor near you, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/cgi-bin/locator.

Reference: Elliott AM, Smith BH, Penny KI, et al. The epidemiology of chronic pain in the community. Lancet 1999: Vol. 354, pp1248-52.

More Activity = Lower Health Care Costs

So maybe you don't care about exercise. Maybe you don't care about eating right. Maybe you don't care about following any of the established recommendations for living a long, healthy life. But do you care about your wallet?

Previous research has suggested that $4.3 to $5.6 billion could be saved annually if 10% of inactive adults began doing one simple thing on a consistent basis: walking. Examining this potential cost savings further, the authors of a study in Physician and Sportsmedicine compared direct medical expenses (for a single calendar year: 1987) of active vs. inactive men and women, using actual medical expenditures from 35,000 U.S. consumers from 14,000 households.

Individuals reporting at least 30 minutes of moderate or strenuous physical activity three times or more per week were classified as physically active; those who reported less weekly activity were classified as inactive. Results showed that:

• Average direct medical costs were substantially lower in the active group vs. the inactive group ($1,242 vs. $2,277).
  
  
• Overall, active individuals reported less hospital stays, physician visits, and use of medications, with major savings derived from lower hospitalization costs ($391 for active, $613 for inactive).
  
  
• Physical activity saved $330 dollars per person, equating to $29.2 billion in 1987. Calculated to the present dollar value, this equals $76.6 billion in the year 2000 alone!

Reference: Pratt M, Macera CA, Wang G. Higher direct medical costs associated with physical inactivity. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, Oct. 2000: Vol. 28, No. 10, pp1-11.

For more information on the many benefits of consistent physical activity, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/tyh/sports.html.

Got the Flu? Antibiotics Won't Help

Most infections are caused by one of two main types of germs: bacteria or viruses. Most coughs and sore throats (and all colds) are caused by viruses, meaning that antibiotics cannot help. In fact, The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) makes this clear, advising: "antibiotics should not be used to treat viral infections." Children receive a disproportionate number of antibiotic prescriptions, particularly to treat upper respiratory infections. Evidence suggests that many times, these prescriptions are unnecessary because they are given not for URIs, but for viral infections such as the common cold.

Apparently many doctors aren't paying attention to this information. Consider the results of a three-part study published last year in the journal Pediatrics. Survey responses from 366 pediatricians and family physicians were compared with published recommendations on diagnosis and treatment of URIs; patient charts from 25 randomly selected pediatricians were reviewed; and a sample of parents from each practice was interviewed by telephone.

Although 97% of physicians agreed that antibiotic overuse is a major factor contributing to resistance, many did not follow recently published recommendations for judicious antibiotic use: 86% prescribed antibiotics for bronchitis regardless of the duration of cough, and 42% prescribed antibiotics inappropriately for the common cold. Most revealing perhaps was the observation that physicians who prescribed antibiotics more prudently had up to 30% less total office visits per child per year.

In other words, more isn't necessary better, especially not when it comes to antibiotics! Talk to your doctor about the pros and cons of antibiotic use, and about the many effective nonpharmaceutical alternatives available.

Reference: Watson RL, Dowell SF, Jayaraman M, et al. Antimicrobial use for pediatric upper respiratory infections: reported practice, actual practice, and parent beliefs. Pediatrics, Dec. 1999: Vol. 104, No. 6, pp1251-57.

For more information on pediatric conditions, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/tyh/childhood.html.

What Smoking Can Do to Your Baby

During the early stages of pregnancy, separate areas of the face develop individually, then fuse together. If certain areas fail to join properly, the result is a facial deformity known as a cleft. Infants born with a cleft lip have an opening in the upper lip between the mouth and the nose; those born with a cleft palate have an abnormal opening at the back of the mouth, or even complete separation of the roof of the mouth.

Because smoking has been shown to have numerous negative effects on pregnancy, including premature birth and low birth weight, it has been proposed that smoking may contribute to facial deformities such as cleft lip and/or cleft palate. To investigate this hypothesis, detailed information on nearly four million live births was obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics 1996 Natality database. Data gathered included maternal smoking status during pregnancy and infant health status, such as the incidence of cleft lip/palate.

Results: Any amount of cigarette smoking during pregnancy significantly increased the risk of bearing a child with a cleft lip/palate, and increased smoking correlated with increased risk. The authors point out that nearly 14% of mothers surveyed in the study admitted to smoking during pregnancy, emphasizing that this is a significant public health concern for both mother and child.

If you're a smoker and can't seem to quit, talk to your doctor about the most effective methods of breaking the habit once and for all. For more information on women's health issues, visit https://www.chiroweb.com/tyh/women.html.

Reference: Chung KC, Kowalski CP, Kim HM, et al. Maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy and the risk of having a child with a cleft lip/palate. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2000: Vol. 105, pp485-91.

Unsubscribe Instructions:
Click this link and enter your e-mail address to unsubscribe from this newsletter. This newsletter conforms to the requirements set by Bill S 1618 Title III, passed by the 105th U.S. Congress.