Yesterday CNN had an article which says that Hong Kong women have the longest life expectancy in the world, 86.7 years. They have surpassed Japanese women who had lived the longest for the last 25 years. Hong Kong men comes in at 80 years, not too shabby. My take on this is that obviously Asian men sacrifice themselves in taking care of their spouses. OK, I will admit there may be other factors involved. One thing is that Asian cities tend to be very crowded so it is difficult to drive. Most people walk to a lot everyday. Tai chi which is very popular helps elderly people with balance and thus avoid hip fractures which can lead to high mortality. The Asian food is less fattening than western diet which decrease heart diseases and breast cancer in women. But there are also disadvantages living in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia. Air pollution is worse and infectious disease tend to spread more quickly in crowded places. So given all these pluses and minuses, does Hong Kong's health system make a difference?
I think the Hong Kong system does make a difference. How much I don't know. The basic system is modeled after the British system. There are public hospitals and clinics one can go for free or very cheap. There are long waits in some specialties just like in Britain. These long waits are always pointed out by opponents of socialize medicine. Unlike the British, however, Hong Kong allows and encourages private hospitals and clinics where if you can pay, you can bypass the long wait. Unlike many countries with socialized medicine, paying to get to the front of the line is not frowned upon in Hong Kong. So emergencies and regular primary care are given to anybody quickly by doctors who are among the best trained in the world. But if want a new knee or hip or lasik surgery, you wait couple of years if you are poor or pay to get them right away if you are rich. The British and Canadians make the latter difficult for the rich. The end result is that some end up going to the U.S. for treatment. Is Hong Kong better? It is a matter of opinion but I think you can't always be completely fair and the Hong Kong system seems good to me.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
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How much do you think genetics takes part in how long one lives? I know people who come from families where their parents and grandparents lived to be in their 60's and they maintained a healthy lifestyle. But they are finding out they are having problems as they get older.
ReplyDeleteI also know people who had parents who lived longer, like into their 90's and these people smoke and are deemed healthy by their doctors.
I understand that there are variations to this, such as diet, environment and lifestyle, but to me, it's frustrating to see someone live an unhealthy lifestyle and do so well.
I am also curious as to why hip fractures lead to high mortality. What is the correlation?
I don't want to go into the whole health care debate again. It's something that, I feel, has no good answer.
I can tell you that I am glad to have access to decent health care. I don't know if I would want to wait for a procedure, unless it wasn't an emergency, so in that case, I wouldn't mind waiting.
I don't really have any trust that a privatized health care would save people any money or make things easier.
I heard this week that there is a shortage of doctors and that a survey said that doctors don't look at their patients as people anymore because they are so over-worked. And with all the new people with health care, they fear that they will be over-worked even more. Thoughts?
Bottom line is, money always talks, and the more money you have, the more privilege it brings. That's always been the case and I'm OK with that.
On a side note, did you see that Hope Solo claimed that Max on Dancing With The Stars (a show I DO NOT watch) was physically and verbally abusive to her?
I used to really like her, but in recent interviews, she comes off as a prima dona.
-LBOAYM
The things you mentioned: diet, life style and environment; we can control at least to a certain extent. Genetics, which play a great role in how healthy we are, cannot be controlled. It is like you say it is not fair but we all have to play the cards we are dealt with.
ReplyDeleteGenetics have a great deal in determining the health of an individual but as a population it is not so important. Whether you are white, black, hispanic or Asian, we all have a higher propensity for certain diseases. So I think we have to look at environment, life style, diet and other factors to see why Hong Kong people and Japanese live longer.
I read a study about 20 years ago which said that people who suffered a hip fracture had a greater chance of dying in the next year than someone who just had a heart attack! I have not read anything recently on that but I think it may still be true. Assuming the heart attack victim made it to the hospital, he can get angioplasty with stents or bypass surgery which all are better than 20 years ago. After hospitalization he will get cardiac rehabilitation and then be on medicine to prevent another attack. The hip fracture person is probably older so the bones are more brittle and that is why he had a fracture in the first place. Afterwards he is probably going to be in the nursing home because he cannot walk for a long time and may never get back his independence. Being stuck in bed there is increase in blood clots, bed sores which can lead to infection, other infections such as pneumonia are also much more likely for someone who is immobile. Being in a nursing home also increase chance of infections because of other sick people being around. So when an elderly person gets a hip fracture it is much more complicated than just a broken bone.
So if Asians do more exercise for balance the chance of falls are less likely. Also the family may be taking care of the elderly better so that if they do get fractures, they may not end up in a nursing home setting. Depression is also less likely when you have family to look after you.
I never liked Hope Solo. Ever since she complained openly about being replaced in that world cup game. She may have been right tactically but it was not good for the team for her to complain so loudly. Maks is a jerk but since they are being followed even during practice, I doubt there was physical abuse. Maks usually does not get the nice partners so I guess the producers try to match bad personalities together. So I guess Hope and Maks deserved each other!