National Kidney Month: Do you know how your kidneys are?

The National Kidney Foundation asks us to observe March as National Kidney Month and March 8th as National Kidney Day. At least twenty cities in the US are offering free screening to detect your risk for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Take this time to get close to your genetic family and find out if anyone has high blood pressure, diabetes or kidney disease. If the answer is yes, then you could be at risk and should get some simple blood tests done. People of certain ethnicities ( Blacks, Latinos, Asians or Pacific Islanders) remain at high risk for CKD. Montgomery, Alabama is one of these cities, and Alabama Governor Robert Riley has expressed concerns that his state is facing a kidney disease epidemic. Black people are 4 times more likely to have kidney failure than whites, and diabetes and high blood pressure are the leading causes of kidney failure in this population group.

Chronic kidney disease is a serious condition associated with premature death, poor quality of life, and increased health-care costs. requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation. The human body is a truly amazing organism, and each body system is dependent on the others to function well. If the brain and heart aren't working right, the kidneys won't either. As the kidneys shut down, wastes can build to high levels in your blood and make you feel sick. Cardiovascular disease, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes are all significant risk factors for kidney disease.

Kidneys are the filters of our body, removing wastes and excess water. They help balance the chemicals in our blood like sodium and potassium. Kidneys can start failing before you have any symptoms; like high blood pressure, it is a silent health problem. You may develop complications slowly over a long period of time, and may not realize you are sick, or why you always feel tired. Untreated, CKD may eventually lead to kidney failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life.

Ways to prevent kidney disease are to keep your blood pressure and diabetes, if you have these diseases, well controlled. If you or your loved ones have any risk factors for kidney disease, make a date to get the following blood tests and assess your risk with your health provider:

• Creatinine
• Creatinine clearance
• BUN

These are simple blood tests. Get close to your loved ones - get tested in March for kidney disease!

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5 Ways to Stop Sickness, Cold!

About 25% of our staff is out this week or part of it due to illness, mostly minor, but some serious enough to require hospitalization. Over lunch, we were discussing ways to stay healthy at work. I offer these friendly tips for staying well:

1. Disinfect your workspace, telephone and keyboard weekly. Get on a schedule and do it every Monday or Friday. Currently available home disinfectants (chlorine bleach based or Lysol type products) provide excellent activity against potentially pathogenic microorganisms likely to contaminate environmental surfaces. Chlorox wipes are conveniently packaged for the work environment and will do the job
2. Keep a glass of water at your desk & drink fluids all day
3. Leave your desk hourly, walk around, shake out your arms & stretch out.
4. Use this short break to take three deep breaths, relax & center. Gently rotate your head side to side and around to relieve tension in your neck muscles
5. Get out of the office at least once a day & breathe fresh air

Thanks to Kris K. for the blog title, Jon S. for the idea, Dean S. for lunch & Carrie L. for encouragement & support. Stay well everyone!

Photo courtesy of ShutterCat.

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US Healthcare Costs to Double in Ten Years ($4 Trillion)!

According to a report released by the US Department of Health and Human Services, healthcare costs in our nation will double by the year 2016. That means 20% of our national budget will be spent on healthcare. Authored by economists from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the study was published in Health Affairs The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere. Karen Davis, President of the Commonwealth Fund, has called for transformation of our healthcare delivery system to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The Commonwealth Fund is a private organization advocating overhaul of our health care system to improve access, quality, and efficiency, with a focus on the underserved.

The National Coalition on Health Care is an alliance founded in 1990 to improve health care and advocates universal health care coverage, improved quality of care and cost management. They provide some sobering statistics in their Health Insurance Cost document:

• Although 47 million Americans have no health insurance, the US spends a higher percentage of its GDP on health care than Switzerland or Germany
• Employer and employee costs for health care insurance premiums are on the rise. Since 2000, cumulative inflation has been 18% , cumulative wage growth has been 20% but employment based health insurance premiums have increased 87 %! Employee contribution has increased 143% and out-of-pocket costs have risen by 115! Ouch!
• Unless something changes, health insurance costs will overtake profits by 2008!
• The main reason people are uninsured is that insurance costs too much.
• Health care costs increase as the number of uninsured increases
• One third of American families have delayed seeking medical treatment due to costs of care
• One fourth of American families had difficulties paying for medical care ove the past year
• Half of all bankruptcy filings in the US are partly due to medical expenses in the aftermath of a serious health problem. 68% of people who filed for bankruptcy had health insurance.
• One fourth of American families report housing problems due to medical debt resulting in the inability to meet mortgage or rent payments
• Almost half of consumers in Iowa reported cutting back on food and heating expenses to cope with rising health insurance costs

Wake up lawmakers and profiteers! The US Healthcare system is in critical condition!

Photo courtesy of Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2002.

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National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

Eating disorders is a term that includes various diseases - anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating, and February 25th-March 3rd 2007 is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, so in the spirit of awareness and enlightenment I would like to seize the opportunity to shed some light on these usually secretive disorders.

Let's start with the facts. According to the National Institute of Mental Health at the National Institutes of Health, these eating disorders frequently co-occur with other psychiatric disorders like depression, and anxiety disorders. Eating disorders don't have an effect on weight only; people who suffer from them can also experience serious heart conditions, kidney failure, and worst case scenario, death. Females are more prone to develop an eating disorder than males - 0.5-3.7% suffer from anorexia, 1.1-4.2% suffer from bulimia and between 2% and 5% of all Americans experience a binge-eating disorder in a 6-month period.

As a concerned family member or friend how can you detect whether or not someone you know is suffering from an eating disorder? Usually dentists tend to be the first healthcare professionals to detect signs of the disorders so if you're a concerned parent ask your child's dentist if they have noticed any tell-tale signs of changes in the mouth or tooth damage consistent with eating disorders. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians other observable signs include the person showing excessive concern about weight or making statements about themselves that reveal a poor body image. Does he/she feel guilty after eating or for not exercising enough? For females who have started having their periods, are they now missing them? How about constant fatigue or tiredness or growing fine body hair?

The National Eating Disorders Association is a good resource for education and support for people suffering from eating disorders and their families. Their mission is to expand public understanding and prevention of eating disorders as well as promoting quality treatment for those affected and support for their families. Their website has lots of helpful links and even an information and referral helpline. Check them out.

Photo courtesy of strph.

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Today is National Condom Day

Epidemiologists have made the estimate that, in the U.S. alone each year, a staggering 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections arise. How can this number be accurate? After all, if such a large number of people are newly infected each year, wouldn’t this quickly lead to treatment shortages, and other potential health care crises?

The fact is, the overwhelming majority of people who are infected by sexual transmission are completely unaware that they have been infected. As a direct result, these newly infected persons have no reason to believe that they are in danger of infecting others. When one puts these two facts together, then multiplies them by the sexually active population of the United States, 19 million new infections suddenly seems to be much more of a reality.

How can so many infected people not know that they are infected? The truth is, most sexually transmitted infections are very slow-growing. Because the infecting organism multiples so gradually, few if any symptoms are experienced after an infection is transmitted. Long-term consequences of infection, however, can be severe, and are often difficult to predict.

For these reasons, the most important measure that we can take as a society is to prevent sexual infections from being transmitted in the first place. For adults who choose not to be sexually active, prevention of transmission is achieved by completely abstaining from sex. For the rest of American adults, a high degree of protection from sexually transmitted infections can be achieved through the proper and consistent use of latex (rubber) or polyurethane (plastic) condoms during sexual intercourse.

For several years now, latex and polyurethane condoms have been manufactured for both males and females. Because male latex condoms have been in widespread use for well over 100 years, these condoms have been studied the most when it comes to the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. More recent studies, comparing the male latex condoms to female or polyurethane condoms have shown that these choices may offer a similar degree of protection from infection, if used properly and consistently. (For more information regarding the proper use of condoms, please click here; for questions and answers regarding condom use, please click here.)

This week is the right time to begin adopting safer sexual practices. It is no mistake that Valentine’s Day has been selected by the American Social Health Association to be known as National Condom Day. In fact, this entire week, from February 11 until February 17 has been dubbed National Condom Week. The idea is to encourage the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, and to raise awareness regarding the two main options, as we have discussed above: sexual abstinence, and the proper and consistent use of latex or polyurethane condoms.

Note: The ASHA logo and the image of the National Condom Week Poster were used courtesy of the American Social Health Association.

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Random Acts of Kindness Week

Has it come to this? Are things really that bad? Do we really need to designate a specific week to go out of our way to be kind to others? Well, I guess the answer is yes because this year, February 12-18 is Random Acts of Kindness Week. So what's in it for you? There are actually health benefits associated with kindness.

According to Allan Luks in his book The Healing Power of Doing Good, scientific studies have shown that being kind can help you maintain good health. You get a "helper's high" from the release of endorphins - the body's natural painkillers - resulting in a decrease in both the intensity and awareness of physical pain. You become less hostile and the sense of well-being you get from being kind lasts for days after the act, additionally, whenever you remember the act that same sense of well-being returns. Finally, being kind actually helps to strengthen your immune system.

So what can you do? Well it's not easy to dictate to someone how to show kindness because situations vary from person to person. Also, the situation of the recipient of the act needs to be taken into consideration. Just use your discretion and try not to bite off more than you can chew. Look no further than your neighbor at home or work as a starting point, everyone appreciates a little kindness, and if you don't feel in the mood to be kind to others then think about the benefits you'll get from being kind and let that be your driving force!

Photo courtesy of Silverduk

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Happy Valentine's Day! It's National Cardiac Rehab Week

The American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACPR) observes Cardiac Rehabilitation Week and encourages us to " Live and Learn with Heart" as we seek to decrease the devastation of heart disease. The National Libraries of Medicine and the NIH have put together a great online tutorial for understanding heart disease and rehabilitation.

Cardiac Rehabilitation is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary program for recovering from heart attack, heart failure or heart surgery. Exercise, behavior modification and education are structured and supervised by a team of cardiology health professionals to improve the health status and quality of life of heart disease patients. A cardiologist prescribes the program which is coordinated by nurse specialists, physical therapists, social workers, occupational therapists, exercise physiologists and nutritionists. Blood pressure and heart rhythm are monitored as the patient progresses and gradually increases his or her activity level. Smoking cessation is a crucial component of a successful Cardiac Rehab Program.

Cardiac Rehab programs were developed in the late 1970's as cardiologists like Kertzer and Gladstone observed that patients who participated in supervised exercise recovered better than did patients on bed rest. In the early days, white men who had suffered heart attacks were referred to the programs. Despite the rising incidence of heart disease in women and minorities, physicians are lagging in referring them to Cardiac Rehab Programs. Even kids with congenital heart defects are getting into the action!

Children's Hospital of Boston is initiating a 12 week program for kids who are usually told to rest. Initial research about the benefits of pilot program was compelling for a positive impact and we can look forward to more of these programs for kids. Internationally, New Zealand Evidence Based Research recommends cardioprotective dietary changes for everyone and a case management approach to individualize programs for success. If someone you know needs help recovering from a "broken heart", encourage them, no matter what age, race or gender, to discuss cardiac rehabilitation with their doctor. It could just help save a life!

Photo of Florence Griffith Joyner statue at Olympic Park courtesy of debaird.

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February is National Cancer Prevention Month!

Sponsored by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), February is a good month to initiate some gradual changes in our lives to prevent cancer. AICR's website provides guidelines for simple dietary changes that will help anyone: make every meal 2/3 fruits, vegetables and whole grains and 1/3 animal products (eggs, cheese, fish or meat). Plant-based diets are high in micronutrients, and research is only beginning to uncover their benefits. Over time, this strategy will decrease dietary intake of fats and help maintain or achieve a healthy weight. Research cited on the AICR's website indicates exercise also plays a role in cancer prevention. The recommendations are to walk an hour a day and add an hour a week of vigorous exercise.

Prevention is a complex subject and is just one aspect of the concept of Wellness. AICR's recommendations cover the Physical aspect of cancer prevention, but the Mind and your status in Community are integral aspects of the Wellness Triad. Holistic health and Integrative Medicine are health care fields that promote Wellness. Mental, emotional, psychological and spiritual factors, the realm of the Mind, play powerful roles in our state of health. No matter what your religious background or beliefs, meditation is a simple practice that can be used to promote health and modulate thought and feelings. Meditation has been practiced by humans for millenia. It just so happens that as of this writing I am reading a translation of The Ramayana, the epic Hindu poem written in the 4th century BCE. Meditation, mind control and telepathic communication are what makes the hero, Rama, so great. Meditation has been studied by researchers who have found it to be a cost-effective (free!) way of reducing stress and pain and improving health. It is not necessary to meditate in any particular position. The picture above is of a labyrinth, a ubiquitous symbol throughout human culture that can be used for Walking Meditations.

In the Wellness Triad, Community encompasses the environment, relationships and family, occupation and workplace, insurance and socioeconomic status, housing and transportation, recreational and cultural opportunities, and education. Loneliness and loss weaken our immune system and leave us susceptible to many illnesses, including cancer. We may be eating right, exercising, relaxed with a positive outlook, but if we are exposed to toxic fumes or something as mundane as the pollen count being high, we are not going to feel well. Take a Wellness Inventory of these aspects of your life, and choose one change that you can make this month to prevent cancer!

Photo courtesy of Atomische.com

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Give Kids a (Free) Smile Day! February 2

February is National Children's Dental Health Month (NCDHM) sponsored by the American Dental Association (ADA). Today, Give Kids a Smile Day, this organization's fifth annual event, more than 14,000 dentists and 37,000 dental team members will provide free dental care valued at more than $72 million to some 750,000 needy children across the nation. Free oral health education, screening and treatment services will be provided to children from low-income families and companies like Colgate-Palmolive and DEXIS Digital X-ray Systems are donating supplies and services. Former Surgeon-General David Satcher named several conditions "the silent epidemic", but he was the first person in that office to call attention to the problem of oral health in our nation, and called attention to the disparities between rich and poor.

The subjects of dental care and kids are especially near and dear to me this month as I fork over lots of money to pay for braces for my teenage daughter. Our saga began when she was 9 and our family dentist, a nice guy and competent clinician, referred us to an orthodontist in our smallish (pop. 75,000) town for braces. Dr. O. had a big smile and big voice in a big, open office. Several people were being treated simultaneously and drills and water piks were whirring furiously as he talked on and on about his neighbor who bought the house adjacent to his to accommodate his wine cellar. Why he thought this would interest me, I have no idea. Most people in the Bay area can't even think about owning one home, let alone two. An extra house to accommodate a wine cellar seemed a tad extravagant for us mortal health care worker types. He smilingly told us that braces would be required within a few months, despite the fact that my daughter was still shedding baby teeth and her permanent teeth had not come in yet. My daughter hated the doctor, and I was suspicious of the urgency of the plan. Research on the Healthline website indicates controversy over the timing of initiating full orthodontia. We opted to wait.

My employers here at Healthline put together a great benefits package for employees (we're hiring!), and I am fortunate to have good dental insurance. I sought out a well known orthodontist in a bigger city who confirmed that braces were needed and showed me the X-rays to prove it. X-rays don't lie and it was clear to me that teeth needed to be extracted first. I signed a contract to pay for close to $6,000 worth of mouth mental, and learned our insurance would cover $1,000 of that. I requested a referral to an oral surgeon in the same building and was referred to Dr. P. I consulted the website for our insurance and confirmed that Dr. P. was in our network. Dr. P. had excellent patient communication skills (what used to be called "bedside manners") and discussed our options. We all decided it would be best to take out four teeth at once, get it over with, and then move on to braces. We scheduled the appointment and a week off from school and work so that I could be with her while she recuperated. Dr. P's bill was $2650, of which our insurance paid $2,000. Total cost of a healthy smile = let's round it off to $10,000 when you consider transportation, time off, and oh, the parking ticket I got for allegedly not "chocking my wheel" on a hill with a 15 degree slope. (You know I'm contesting that one!). And I'm one of the lucky ones.

The ADA recommends that children see a dentist no later than their first birthday. Roughly 60% of children have seen a dentist before kindergarten. By then, more than half of first graders have tooth decay, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Left untreated, dental disease makes it difficult for children to eat, sleep and pay attention in school, and it negatively affects their self-esteem. Congratulations to the ADA for drawing attention to this important issue. The ADA has a proud tradition of advocating international volunteerism, sponsoring dental care in impoverished countries like Nepal and Haiti. Thank you to everyone involved for such a great program!

Photo courtesy of Gregor Rohrig .

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Healthline Observes National Wear Red Day

It's here! National Wear Red Day and of course the folks here at Healthline seized the opportunity to observe it, check out our photographs. The "red brigade" (thanks Robin for coining the phrase) came out in full force and it was quite funny to hear stories about what a challenge it was for some of us to find something red in our closets to wear.

On a more serious note though here are the facts: contrary to popular belief, cancer is not the number one killer of women, it's heart disease and less than half of all women are aware of this. In actuality, heart disease accounts for 32% of deaths in American women per year. 1 in 25 women die from breast cancer while 1 in 3 women die from heart disease and 63% of the women who suddenly die from heart disease had no previous evidence of it. In women under 45, smoking is the most prevalent and preventable cause of heart disease. Last but not least, most heart disease is quite often preventable.

Okay, the future isn't bleak so what can you do? If you're a woman here is a list of 10 questions to ask your doctor and here are some tips for heart health. Some of the goals may be more achievable if you use the buddy system - ask one or two of your smoking buddies to quit as well and hold each other accountable. Get a buy one get one free gym membership with a friend...and actually use it. Go out of your way to be a little more physically active than you otherwise would by using the staircase instead of the escalator or elevator (depending of course on how high up you have to go).

It isn't always easy to make that shift into healthy living but it is worth the effort and you can at least laugh along the way. Check out Carrie's (another one of our bloggers) adventures in smoking cessation in our Freedom from Smoking blog. For exercise and fitness tips check out The Fitness Fixer and if you need a guide to healthy nutrition then check out The Diet Dish too!

Oh yeah, and if you wore red today feel free to give us a holla' and let us know how it went!

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