Death Gap Widens Between Educated and Those Not
WEDNESDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) — Being well-educated can lengthen your life span, according to new study.
The research, published in the May 14 issue ofPLoS ONE, shows that the gap in overall death rates between Americans with less than a high school education and college graduates increased rapidly from 1993 to 2001.
The implication here is that less well educated people don’t know how to take care of themselves. This is part of a larger PR drive for “wellness programs” which our corporate misleadership hope will subsitute for action on healthcare.
Less well educated workers make less money, are less likely to have health insurance, and less likely to have access to health care.
Less educated people are more likely to have 2 or even three jobs. More likely to suffer from sleep deprivation, more likely to work on the feet all day, and in short, more likely to live highly stressed lives, physically and mentally.
Canada and France do not have these kinds of mortality gaps because even though they have poor and less educated people, Canada and France have functioning healthcare systems, we don’t.
Insist on HR 676, know who your friends are.
Front page
The article says
“This study finds the socioeconomic inequalities in mortality rates are not only failing to drop, they are actually increasing in the U.S.,” Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, said in a prepared statement. “People with less education have fewer financial resources, less access to health insurance or stable employment, and less health literacy. As a result, while the death rate among the most educated Americans is dropping dramatically, we’re seeing a real lack of progress or even worsening trends in the least educated persons. The gap between the best and worst off in the country is actually getting wider.”
Which puts it mostly in the realm of the socioeconomic effects of less education, less in the realm of ignorant people don’t know how to take care of themselves.
What do you mean, not "functioning"?
You’re assuming that the purpose of the health care system — as opposed to the many good people within in — is to heal people. Why would you think that? Or am I bitter?
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
bitter?
no, just American.
Social gradient
cenobite: “Which puts it mostly in the realm of the socioeconomic effects of less education, less in the realm of ignorant people don’t know how to take care of themselves.”
Its known as the “social gradient” in health status, used worldwide in population health status statistics.
It is obvious in other countries and populations too, not just America. Usually measured in quintiles on socio-economic status, but also with a strong correlation on educational status.
Plot anything like incidence of diabetes, or cardiovascular (heart) disease, or life expectancy, or infant mortality etc on the y axis, against socio-economic quintiles or educational quartiles on the x-axis, and incidence of disease and illness rises in a sloped linear line across the social status. The slope of the gradient gives an indication of how severe it is, the steeper the slope from poor to rich, the more severe the problem.
Check out the WHO reports, they have a Commission of “Social Determinants of Health” and these social determinants are mostly outside the control of your health system, no matter how single-payer or public-funded it is.
Social determinants include, for example, that people at the bottom of social heirarchies, tend to :
- have poorer quality housing. Increased exposure to environmental contaminants, poor heating in winter etc.
- poorer nutrition. They can’t afford to go shopping for higher cost, higher quality foods. They tend to eat more cheap highly processed crap, or do without more often, especially children.
- poor physical activity, less likely to join a gym, or go jogging, or play sport for recreation.
- poorer education, means they aren’t as likely to be well-informed on health matters, or understand highly technical information, on cancer, or diabetes, or heart etc. Or on self-management issues, like understanding complicated medication instructions.
- have higher use of tobacco, alcohol and other substances.
- more likely to work in low-paid jobs, with poor OH&S standards, more prone to work-related injuries.
- have higher stress, and lifestyle insecurity (jobs/housing etc) higher tendency to mental health issues; anxiety, depression etc.
Some of these things are outside the control of health systems, but put in barriers to access to health care, then you double the incidence.
Thats why the US has a much steeper ’social gradient’ from poor to rich, than comparable countries. Even at middle-class & high income/education levels, moderately comfortable and well-off socio-economic levels, US populations are significantly less healthy than their UK counterparts in all socio-economic quintiles.
Thats why countries like UK, much of Europe and Asia, are moving out of just straightforward health care provision, but spending more money in Whole-of-Population “Prevention” activities.
AIDS & Hep C for example, many OECD countries whipped into street-level health care programs, with free condoms, free needle exchange programs, using social workers, soup-kitchens and charity volunteer organisations etc as distribution points. Prevention is a heck of a lot cheaper than treating them,no matter who or what is paying for it.
Diabetes - around 50% of sufferers, dont know they have it, and may have it for years before they find out. By the time their symptoms are severe enough to see a doctor, they are so far gone, they then need huge high-cost drugs, and high-cost health management.
Better to catch it early - and either delay it, or prevent it, from going full-blown, so many countries, do major diabetes prevention. eg through drug stores/pharmacies. Let your pharmacist give you a short questionnaire, and a free finger-prick test to help assess your risk (not a diagnosis). Takes 10 minutes, can do it on your regular shopping day. low, moderate or high risk; moderates and highs, take your questionnaire paper, and go see your doctor about it. List goes on, in schools, old folks homes wherever it makes sense.
That said, America really should do something about its crazy system!