Historically, motor vehicle accidents have been the leading cause of death and injury among children and adolescents. That changed in 2017, when gun-related deaths took the top spot.

Better motor vehicle manufacturing and traffic safety laws are responsible for that decline; lax gun safety laws (or no laws at all) are attributed to the rise in gun-related deaths, according to researchers in a Perspective article published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The number of firearm-related deaths in children, adolescents and young adults rose from 6,998 in 2000 to 10,186 in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Body of Knowledge

If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%, it will trigger feelings of thirst.

Get Me That, Stat!

A diagnosis of cancer comes with many costs: physical, emotional and financial. A new report by the American Cancer Society details the last, saying more than half of cancer patients or survivors incurred medical debt related to cancer and 73% worried about affording current or future care.

Women were more likely to report medical debt (57%) than men (36%).

African American individuals (62%) were more likely to incur debt than white individuals (52%).

Most respondents (62%) with medical debt delayed or avoided medical care for minor issues; nearly half (45%) delayed care for serious issues.

To afford care, respondents delayed major purchases (36%), went through most or all of their savings (28%), took on more credit card debt (%) and borrowed from relatives and friends (20%).

Doc Talk

Nitro drip: an intravenous infusion of nitroglycerin, which is used to treat angina (chest pain) and anal fissures by relaxing arteries to promote blood flow. Nitroglycerin used for medical purposes has been chemically diluted and modified to stabilize it, unlike its explosive cousin.

Phobia of the Week

Globophobia: fear of balloons (of all sizes)

Food for Thought

That lovely, if perhaps slightly unreal, yellow color in your packaged macaroni and cheese is due in part to a byproduct of the petroleum industry: coal tar. From coal tar comes the colorant tartrazine, otherwise known as Yellow 5.

Best Medicine

The vast majority of parents do not vaccinate their kids. They pay pediatricians to do it.

Observation

"I'm going to Boston to see my doctor. He's a very sick man." — American comedian Fred Allen (1894-1956)

Medical History

This week in 1906, pathologist Howard T. Ricketts discovered that Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is caused by an unusual microbe spread by ticks. Its symptoms are similar to typhus, except the rash starts at extremities and moves to the trunk. The disease causes high morbidity, with approximately 70% of cases requiring hospitalization.

Perishable Publications

Many, if not most, published research papers have titles that defy comprehension. They use specialized jargon, complex words and opaque phrases like "nonlinear dynamics." Sometimes they don't, and yet they're still hard to figure out. Here's an actual title of actual published research study: "Chemical processes in the deep interior of Uranus."

We now return you to your adult sensibilities.

Med School

Q: How many different cell types are there in the human body?

a) 55

b) 72

c) 200

d) 1,000

A: c) 200

Curtain Calls

In the 1960s and 1970s, Jerome Rodale was a high-profile advocate for healthy living, promoting organic foods and creating the health magazine Prevention. Experts often found his claims dubious, but he was popular on TV talk shows.

In 1971, he was a guest on "The Dick Cavett Show." During the taping, while listening to Cavett interviewing another guest, his head suddenly slumped to his chest. Cavett is reported to have jokingly asked Rodale if he was finding the conversation boring. Rodale did not respond. He had suffered a fatal heart attack and was pronounced dead on arrival at a New York City hospital. He was 72.

The Cavett episode never aired, though Cavett recalled it publicly later.

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.

Photo credit: Brett_Hondow at Pixabay