The Journal of the American Medical Association just published a study by the U.S. Burden of Disease Collaborators, looking at causes of death and disease in the United States.
The top five causes of death from 1990 to 2016 were ischemic heart disease; lung, tracheal or bronchial cancer; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Alzheimer's disease and other dementias; and colon and rectal cancers.
The rate of premature death is rising in 21 states, driven in part by increased substance abuse and suicide rates. Deaths from self-harm involving guns are declining, but deaths caused by other forms of self-harm are on the rise.
The best odds for living long are in Hawaii, with a life expectancy in 2016 of 81.3 years. At the other end of the spectrum, life expectancy in Mississippi is 74.7 years, almost a seven-year difference.
What a Racket!
Health care fraud is the sort of crime that can make you sick. Here's a bit of news to perk you up: In fiscal 2017, federal health care investigators and lawyers brought in more than $2.3 billion in health care fraud settlements and judgments. The Justice Department opened 967 new criminal cases involving health care fraud last year, and 639 defendants were convicted in health care fraud cases.
Immortality Is a Good Rub Away
The oldest documented living person is Masazo Nonaka of Japan, who is 112 years old. A former farmer and lumberjack, Nonaka reportedly likes spas and cakes, so there's hope for the rest of us.
Body of Knowledge
Babies are born without kneecaps. Kneecaps don't appear until a child is 2 to 6 years old.
Get Me That, Stat!
According to a 2013 Gallup Poll, more than half of Americans take vitamin supplements, a figure that jumps to 68 percent for people 65 or older. In another study, published in The Journal of Nutrition last year, 29 percent of older adults reported taking four or more supplements (of all kinds).
Life in Big Macs
One hour of sitting in a Jacuzzi burns 68 calories (based on a 150-pound person), or the equivalent of 0.1 Big Mac.
Counts
93: percentage of 259 water bottles from 11 different brands and nine different countries that were found to have some sort of microplastic in their water, including polypropylene, polystyrene, nylon and polyethylene.
10.4: average number of particles per liter of water.
Source: CBC
Stories for the Waiting Room
In BMJ Case Reports, doctors describe an emergency room visit by a young man after he ate a Carolina Reaper, reputed to be the world's hottest pepper. The man developed recurring severe neck pain and "crushingly painful" headaches. A CT scan revealed temporary narrowing of arteries in his brain, the first time that condition was linked to consuming hot peppers.
Doc Talk
Pulsatile: beating, as in a pulsatile mass.
Phobia of the Week
Cremnophobia: fear of precipices.
Never Say Diet
The speed-eating record for gumbo is 1.875 gallons in eight minutes, held by Joey Chestnut. Gumbo is a Southern stew consisting primarily of a strongly flavored stock, meat or shellfish, a thickener, and vegetables, usually celery, bell peppers and onions. Add in a heaping side dish of rice and eating a lot of gumbo can make you jumbo.
Best Medicine
We've got bad news and good news for you, Mrs. Olsen. The bad news is that we've amputated the wrong leg. The good news is the bad leg is getting better.
Observation
"For three days after death, hair and fingernails continue to grow, but phone calls taper off." — comedian Johnny Carson (1925-2005)
Medical History
This week in 1899, the drugmaker Bayer introduced aspirin in powder form in Germany. It had been discovered by company researcher Felix Hoffmann a couple of years earlier. The first aspirin pills appeared 16 years later.
Curtain Calls
In 1995, a young Egyptian farmer descended a 60-foot well in the village of Nazlat Imara, 240 miles south of Cairo, to rescue a chicken that had fallen in. He drowned after an undercurrent in the water pulled him down. His sister and two brothers went in one by one to rescue him but also drowned, as did two elderly farmers who tried to rescue those who had gone before. The bodies of all six were later retrieved, along with the chicken — who survived.
To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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