4 ms·

I encourage readers to see the original CDC report [1]. It full of facts, but quite easy to read. Skim over the data, it’s presented in graphs and tables. Unfo

by todd8 7y ago

I encourage readers to see the original CDC report [1]. It full of facts, but quite easy to read. Skim over the data, it’s presented in graphs and tables. Unfortunately, this is one of those subjects that numerous commenters see through their own political or philosophical perspectives of the headlines without consulting the underlying data. Check out things for yourself. There are some disturbing trends I noticed while looking over the data on my phone. Homicides, suicides, and accidents of young men have continued to increase and appear to me to be pulling down overall life expectancies (which have changed a small amount in the last few years). [1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus17.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus17.pdf

Balgair 7y ago
A few points I saw: Pg. 8: Alzheimer's Disease caused deaths for both males and females increased a fair bit! And for males, Unintentional Deaths also increased recently. Note that the Y-axis is in a LOG scale; any movement upwards is a lot. Pg. 10: Yeah, Juul and the like really are hurting children. Grades 2 & 3 Obesity are increasing too. Both are not good. Pg. 11: Asthma in black children has gone up a fair amount. Pg. 14: West Coast and Virginian essential vaccination is under 2/3 babies (3 years or younger). That is WELL below herd immunity. New England, Deep South, and Plains states are above 3/4. Pg. 21: Ages 15-44 have seen an uptick in mortality. Note: The y-axis is in LOG scale, so it's been a fair bit of an uptick. Pg. 22: A big uptick in infant mortality due to unintentional injuries. Pg. 23: ... Jesus ... a huge increase in child suicide rates and an increase in teen homicide and suicide rates. Note: The y-axis is in LOG scale. Pg. 24: HIV deaths are WAY down (!), unintentional injuries and liver cirrhosis are up. Pg. 25: Alzheimer's deaths in the elderly are up a fair amount. pg. 26: Holy shit ... overdose rates are just ... wow ... pg. 27: Appalachia and New England ... good Lord ... I mean, you hear things about it all, but wow. pg. 29: Cirrhosis deaths in middle aged men are really climbing. The booze, it ain't good. Aside: On the increases in 'unintentional death'. I get a whiff of the issues that Colorado Springs had with their teen suicide cell a few years back. The coroner, in deference to the religious families of the deceased, would label the deaths not as a suicide, but as something different. The problem became that since these deaths were not recorded properly, CDC officials were not alerted and the suicide cell was allowed to fester. There were a lot of kids that died as a result of that. The increase in 'unintentional deaths' may be something similar, where the coroners are recording the deaths in deference to the wishes of the family. I've not a shred of proof on this, but I get a strong smell of it from causally looking at the data.
- LinuxBender 7y ago
  I would add that Cirrhosis isn't just alcohol. Another major contributor is sugar and complex carbs. There are about 87 million Americans that meet the criteria for Metabolic Syndrome and that is directly related and getting worse with time.
  - blacksmith_tb 7y ago
    It's also caused by hepatitis (B and C)[1] which effects millions of people in the US[2]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrhosis#Causes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrhosis#Causes 2: https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/cfaq.htm#statistics https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/cfaq.htm#statistics
    - toomuchtodo 7y ago
      Hepatitis B adult vaccination rates seem to be woefully low in the US (25-33%), and while there is treatment for Hep C, it is very expensive ($84k for a three month course). https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/coverage/adultvaxview/pubs-resources/NHIS-2016.html#targetText=In%202016%2C%20reported%20hepatitis%20B,to%20the%20estimates%20for%202015 https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/coverage/adultvaxv....
    - ToFundorNot 7y ago
      and https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/hemochromatosis https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/hemochromatosis which affects an estimated 30% of americans
  - phnofive 7y ago
    Simple carbs?
    - LinuxBender 7y ago
      [Edited] I am awake now. Simple carbs have more of a glycemic load and thus more impact on the liver. When your body responds to glucose, it releases insulin. Over time you build up a resistance to insulin. Your liver has to compensate for this by using up stored glutathione. I am very much over simplifying for the purpose of HN, but long story short, sugar, processed foods, grains, put a heavy load on the liver and pancreas For example, green leafy vegetables are complex carbohydrates. They have very little glycemic load and will not harm your liver. Pretty much all carbs are bad news. Always subtract fiber content from carbs and what is left over, your liver and pancreas will be dealing with. Vegetables have a lot of fiber for example.
CydeWeys 7y ago
I'm surprised to see that homicide is actually increasing. I thought we were at all-time lows, but maybe not. Interestingly, unintentional injuries are climbing even more than homicide (and because this is a log-scale graph, they're increasing by much more in absolute numbers). I assume this category includes drug overdoses, which is probably a good part of it, but it would also include deaths due to car crashes, which have been increasing. Cars are especially getting more dangerous to those outside of them in crashes, as cars are only safety-rated to protect those inside of them, not unfortunate pedestrians and cyclists who might get mashed up against the increasingly flat and high grilles of SUVs and trucks out there.

by todd8 7y ago

Balgair 7y ago

A few points I saw: Pg. 8: Alzheimer's Disease caused deaths for both males and females increased a fair bit! And for males, Unintentional Deaths also increased recently. Note that the Y-axis is in a LOG scale; any movement upwards is a lot. Pg. 10: Yeah, Juul and the like really are hurting children. Grades 2 & 3 Obesity are increasing too. Both are not good. Pg. 11: Asthma in black children has gone up a fair amount. Pg. 14: West Coast and Virginian essential vaccination is under 2/3 babies (3 years or younger). That is WELL below herd immunity. New England, Deep South, and Plains states are above 3/4. Pg. 21: Ages 15-44 have seen an uptick in mortality. Note: The y-axis is in LOG scale, so it's been a fair bit of an uptick. Pg. 22: A big uptick in infant mortality due to unintentional injuries. Pg. 23: ... Jesus ... a huge increase in child suicide rates and an increase in teen homicide and suicide rates. Note: The y-axis is in LOG scale. Pg. 24: HIV deaths are WAY down (!), unintentional injuries and liver cirrhosis are up. Pg. 25: Alzheimer's deaths in the elderly are up a fair amount. pg. 26: Holy shit ... overdose rates are just ... wow ... pg. 27: Appalachia and New England ... good Lord ... I mean, you hear things about it all, but wow. pg. 29: Cirrhosis deaths in middle aged men are really climbing. The booze, it ain't good. Aside: On the increases in 'unintentional death'. I get a whiff of the issues that Colorado Springs had with their teen suicide cell a few years back. The coroner, in deference to the religious families of the deceased, would label the deaths not as a suicide, but as something different. The problem became that since these deaths were not recorded properly, CDC officials were not alerted and the suicide cell was allowed to fester. There were a lot of kids that died as a result of that. The increase in 'unintentional deaths' may be something similar, where the coroners are recording the deaths in deference to the wishes of the family. I've not a shred of proof on this, but I get a strong smell of it from causally looking at the data.

LinuxBender 7y ago
I would add that Cirrhosis isn't just alcohol. Another major contributor is sugar and complex carbs. There are about 87 million Americans that meet the criteria for Metabolic Syndrome and that is directly related and getting worse with time.
- blacksmith_tb 7y ago
  It's also caused by hepatitis (B and C)[1] which effects millions of people in the US[2]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrhosis#Causes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrhosis#Causes 2: https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/cfaq.htm#statistics https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/cfaq.htm#statistics
  - toomuchtodo 7y ago
    Hepatitis B adult vaccination rates seem to be woefully low in the US (25-33%), and while there is treatment for Hep C, it is very expensive ($84k for a three month course). https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/coverage/adultvaxview/pubs-resources/NHIS-2016.html#targetText=In%202016%2C%20reported%20hepatitis%20B,to%20the%20estimates%20for%202015 https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/coverage/adultvaxv....
  - ToFundorNot 7y ago
    and https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/hemochromatosis https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/hemochromatosis which affects an estimated 30% of americans
- phnofive 7y ago
  Simple carbs?
  - LinuxBender 7y ago
    [Edited] I am awake now. Simple carbs have more of a glycemic load and thus more impact on the liver. When your body responds to glucose, it releases insulin. Over time you build up a resistance to insulin. Your liver has to compensate for this by using up stored glutathione. I am very much over simplifying for the purpose of HN, but long story short, sugar, processed foods, grains, put a heavy load on the liver and pancreas For example, green leafy vegetables are complex carbohydrates. They have very little glycemic load and will not harm your liver. Pretty much all carbs are bad news. Always subtract fiber content from carbs and what is left over, your liver and pancreas will be dealing with. Vegetables have a lot of fiber for example.

CydeWeys 7y ago

I'm surprised to see that homicide is actually increasing. I thought we were at all-time lows, but maybe not. Interestingly, unintentional injuries are climbing even more than homicide (and because this is a log-scale graph, they're increasing by much more in absolute numbers). I assume this category includes drug overdoses, which is probably a good part of it, but it would also include deaths due to car crashes, which have been increasing. Cars are especially getting more dangerous to those outside of them in crashes, as cars are only safety-rated to protect those inside of them, not unfortunate pedestrians and cyclists who might get mashed up against the increasingly flat and high grilles of SUVs and trucks out there.