It's more correlation than causation, but a new study found that deaths from heart disease dropped in association with a decline in gun violence. The period studied was 2000-2014 in Chicago. Over that period, violent crime dropped 16% overall, and cardiovascular disease mortality decreased 13%. In neighborhoods where violent crime dropped the most, heart disease mortality also usually dropped more than the average.

The correlation makes violent crime an important social determinant of health. Unfortunately, it's been a while since gun violence has declined. Gun violence incidents have steadily risen in recent years, up 33% from 2017, the year firearm-related injuries usurped motor vehicle crashes as the most common cause of death among children and adolescents.

Body of Knowledge

The average person takes from 12 to 18 breaths per minute, totaling approximately seven quarts of air. The right lung takes in more air than the left lung, which is smaller to leave room for the heart.

Get Me That, Stat!

American men and good health care just don't seem to go together. In a new study, men in the U.S. were deemed more likely to have serious medical conditions, die from avoidable causes and feel the system does work for them compared to men in 10 other high-income countries.

One upside: U.S. men had the lowest rate of prostate cancer deaths.

An earlier report by the Commonwealth Fund found similar not-so-encouraging results for U.S. women.

Stories for the Waiting Room

If it's not hot right now as you read this, it will be, sooner than later, hotter than ever.

That's not a good thing. Extreme heat waves, like those that have washed across the country in recent weeks and months, threaten health consequences beyond dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Extreme heat can worsen chronic diseases, such as migraines, lupus, arthritis and long COVID, which the Census Bureau estimates affects 16 million working-age Americans. Heat exposure can cause long-term damage and increase the likelihood of kidney disease or respiratory diseases.

Hot days also worsen mental health and increase the odds of being injured at work or having a heart attack or an infection.

Doc Talk

Fontanelles: soft spots on an infant's head where the bony plates that make up the skull have not yet come together

Phobia of the Week

Mageirocophobia: fear of cooking

Never Say 'Diet'

In honor of the season, the Major League Eating record for pumpkin pie is 20 pounds, 13 ounces in eight minutes, held by Matt Stonie, appropriately squashing the previous record.

Food for Thought

Castoreum is a yellowish exudate from the castor sacs of mature beavers, who use it to scent mark their territories. In the early 1900s, it was sometimes used as a food additive, but much less so now. Swedes use it in a type of schnapps called Baverhojt, which literally means "beaver shout."

More often these days, it's used in perfumes, presumably to keep mature, wild beavers at bay. As a food additive, the FDA considers castoreum "generally recognized as safe," which seems a generally dubious approval.

Best Medicine

Who is the leader of international public health?

Yes.

Observation

"When he is sick, every man wants his mother." — American writer Philip Roth (1933-2018)

Medical History

This week in 1969, cyclamates were banned in the United States. Cyclamate is a noncaloric sweetener discovered in 1937. It has been widely used as a tabletop sweetener, in sugar-free beverages, in baked goods and other low-calorie foods, particularly in combination with saccharin. The ban was based on concern raised by one experiment showing bladder tumors appearing in laboratory rats fed large doses of cyclamate. Following new experiments, in June 1985, the National Academy of Sciences affirmed the FDA's Cancer Assessment Committee.

Cyclamate is still approved for use in more than 50 countries.

Self-exam

On an average day, how much saliva do you produce?

a) 300 milliliters (a milliliter is equivalent to .002 of a pint)

b) 450 milliliters

c) 640 milliliters

d) 700 milliliters

A: c) 640 milliliters or 1.3 pints

Epitaphs

"Legacy of BPH. Liar. Thief. Cheat. Selfish. Unsharing. Unloving. Unkind. Disloyal. Dishonorable. Unfaithful." — Tombstone of Bernard P. Hopkins (1904-1993). Sometimes it's better not to be remembered.

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: ValynPi14 at Pixabay