Week 1 assignment
HOMEWORK: Due September 12
NOTE:
These questions were intended for you to apply critical thinking to developing
answers. There may be no wrong answers provided the cases you made for your
responses were supportable to some extent. Below is an overview of some of the
ideas I was looking for.
As
noted by the ancient greek
physician Hippocrates . . .
"Whoever
wishes to pursue properly the science of medicine must proceed thus: he ought
to consider:
- the effects of season of the
year
- the hot winds and the cold
- the properties of the waters
- the setting of the town
- the behavior of the people
"For if a physician know these things well.
. . . He will not be ignorant. . . and misguide those
he would advise."
1. Review the
notes on the four factors influencing health. Relate how Hippocrates'
statements (including the final line) correspond with two of those factors. Do
they relate to each of them? If not, give an example of what you would add to
complete his quote to relate to each of the four factors?
Each of the considerations for Hippocrates addresses one of the four components, though it doesn't account for the genetic factors attributed to health. The four factors of health, in order of importance are:
Environment
Lifestyle/behavior
Hereditary factors
Health Care Services
Hippocrates' assertion description pertains to environment:
The effects of the season of the year, the hot winds and the cold - each of which relate primarily to time of year properties, but which impacted by environment in terms of location. The properties of the water and the setting of the town specifically relate to environment. And, obviously, the behavior of the people relate directly. Bear in mind that Hippocrates lived nearly 2,500 years ago and only had the benefit of the resources of his day. He also lived during a time when superstition drove much of the medical thought. He is considered to be the father of modern medicine and his ideas were the first to look specifically at behaviors and environment. He was primarily a homeopathic physician in that he felt we should treat the person as a whole, thus his reflections on "the bahavior of the people". One can make a case that by virtue of his treating the patient as a physician that the fourth factor of health is addressed.
He might have been able to
address all four areas if he also asserted that certain diseases seem to run in
families.
2. Examine the
charts below from your notes and answer the questions.
AMERICAN
LIFE EXPECTANCY DURING THE 20TH CENTURY
This chart illustrates that life expectancy in the
Once again, consider the chart in terms
of the four factors influencing health and give some examples of what you think
might be attributed to the increase in life expectancy. Which factor do you
think was the most important and why? As Americans reach age 65, their life expectancy increases
well above the overall life expectancy. For example, in 1996, American males
who obtain the age of 65 have an additional life expectancy of 14 years. What
factors do you think are primarily responsible for this?
The
chart illustrates primarily the benefits that have been derived by improvement
in addressing childhood diseases. In 1900, the 3 leading causes of death were
infectious diseases including pneumonia, tuberculosis, and gastroenteritis. But
the most significant improvements increasing life expectancy was in birth
outcomes. One of the other main factors attributed to the increase in
life expectancy is improvement in environmental factors (both physical and
geographical improvements) that have controlled for infectious diseases such as
typhoid, cholera, plague and pox. Immunizations and vaccinations have been
significant medical factors that improved life expectancy. Today, the most
significant causes of death are heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular
disease and chronic pulmonary obstruction. The type of medical intervention
today differs from that of 100 years ago, with concentration of dealing with
chronic health disorders.
The
second chart illustrates dramatically how medical intervention has improved
life expectancy. We have continued to see a rise in the life expectancy beyond
the age of 65 since 1950 which may be attributed, in part, to improved access
to care for elderly. The implementation of Medicare which provides all
Americans with some form of health coverage may be the most significant. In
addition, we are now able to cure many forms of disease that were incurable
prior to 1950. Also, improved health education that promotes healthy living has
had an impact on life expectancy for this age group. We must also consider that
access to care has improved beyond just having health insurance. Health
insurance became more widespread during the 1950s. The number
of hospitals and specialists have increased. Rather than relying on the
physician to come to the patient, as was common in the period up to the 1950s,
today the patient has a much broader choice for health care.
1.
Suicide presents a good case of differences based on
person, place, and time. Give me a brief description of what the table
indicates. Address each population group identified in the chart. What factors
do you think account for the "peaks" for each group. Although the
table clearly indicates that the "rate" increases as white males age, what single quantifiable factor might still cause
us to be more concerned with the rate of suicide for those 20 and younger?
As we discussed in class, there are several factors that may be
attributable to the increase in the rate of suicide among white, elderly males.
First, one should consider the major life changing issues such as retirement,
death of a spouse, and inability to care for oneself. The chart shows that the
rate increases with age for all age groups except for white females, which
appears to peak between the ages of 35-50 years of age. But the significant
differences between white males and all other groups may be more attributable
to cultural factors.
The
sharpest increase in suicide rates among all groups occurs between 15-20 years
of age. In terms of total numbers of individuals involved in this group, which
is significantly larger than the group of 65 plus age group, requires us to
focus special attention on this younger population. Again, the most significant
increases in the suicide rate for this age group is
among white males.
2. Questions 4 and 5 will pertain to an ongoing
assignment during the first portion of this section. Go to the Las Vegas Review
Journal, either on line at http://www.reviewjournal.com/
or purchase a newspaper. In the obituary section, obtain the number of deaths
for the period September 2 – 6, 2004. Identify the total number of
deaths. Calculate the average age of death for total and by sex. Describe any
interesting characteristics for the period. Compare your findings to the
average life expectancy in the
3. Using that data, categorize the age mortality rates
based on the following categories (make sure to give the total number and
percent of deaths for that age group).
- 30 years and less
- 31 – 65 years
- 65 – 80 years
- Over 80 years
Compare
these findings with the information presented at the following link: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr52/nvsr52_14.pdf
. Are there any similarities or differences? Can we draw any definitive
conclusions about the findings? Why or why not?
Obituary Assignment 2005
|
|
< 30 |
31-65 |
66-80 |
80+ |
Total |
|
|
No./Avg. |
No./Avg. |
No.Avg. |
No./Avg. |
No./Avg. |
|
Male |
04/16.5 |
18/54 |
27/74.1 |
13/85.2 |
60/67.1 |
|
Female |
03/24 |
17/51.4 |
16/76.3 |
18/89.7 |
54/70 |
|
Total |
7/19.7 |
33/52.3 |
43/74.9 |
30/87.4 |
114/68.2 |
|
I attempted to
control for individuals that were listed more than once. For the purpose of
your assignment repeated death notices would skew your findings. |
|||||
Based on these
preliminary findings, crude age death rate for the period Sept. 1-7 was 68.2
years. Average age death rate for women was 70 compared to 67.1 for men. All of
these averages are below the national norm. However, the death rates for the
period represent only one week during a year and may not be a predictor of the
crude death rate for
Obituary Assignment 2004
|
|
< 30 |
31-65 |
66-80 |
80+ |
Total |
|
|
No./Avg. |
No./Avg. |
No.Avg. |
No./Avg. |
No./Avg. |
|
Male |
05/16.4 |
18/54 |
20/73.3 |
10/83 |
53/63.2 |
|
Female |
2/29 |
15/57 |
11/73.3 |
9/85 |
37/67.2 |
|
Total |
7/20 |
33/55.6 |
31/73.3 |
19/83.9 |
90/64.8 |
|
* Note: the youngest
death was that of an infant. For the purpose of calculation in this example I
used age 1 as the age of death. I attempted to control for individuals that
were listed more than once. For the purpose of your assignment repeated death
notices would skew your findings. |
|||||
Based on these
preliminary findings, crude age death rate for the period Sept. 2-6 was 64.8
years. Average age death rate for women was 67.2 compared to 63.2 for men. All
of these averages are below the national norm. However, the death rates for the
period represent only one week during a year and may not be a predictor of the
crude death rate for