Friday, March 2, 2012

Preventing Breast Cancer


In most cases, breast cancer is a catchable cancer, meaning that it can be detected in an early stage which makes treatment and recovery fairly painless. How can you prevent breast cancer? Get a mammogram! Although mammograms are  uncomfortable for most women, this X-ray of the breast can catch cancer up to three years before you can even feel something wrong in your breast. This means that breast cancer can be caught early, if you get a mammogram that is. The CDC recommends that you recieve 2 mammograms per year if you are between the ages of 50 and 74. The CDC also has been monitoring the different ages and demographics of women getting their mammograms. The percentage of women who get mammograms with no highschool diploma or GED is significantly less than the percentage of women who get mammograms with a college degree or higher level educational degree. The percentage of white females recieving mammograms is steadly decreasing. For more mammogram statistics, go here. Although the CDC has not yet classified this lack-of-mammograming as an epidemic, measures need to be taken before it can become an epidemic. Get your biannual mammogram because it can save your life.
Mammogram

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Legal Overdoses are Causing Serious Epidemiologic Problems


When you hear the word “overdose,” one most likely thinks about deaths caused by alcohol, cocaine, meth, or heroin. But today, prescription painkiller drugs are becoming a much more serious problem than meth or cocaine. In 1999, 4,000 people died annually from prescription overdoses. Today, prescription drug overdoses kill 15,000 people annually. That’s more people than the annual overdose deaths caused by meth or cocaine combined. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has now classified prescription painkiller overdoses as an epidemic. The map below clearly shows this increase in drug overdoses between the year 2008 (the top map) and 2010 (the bottom map).  Risk factors for death caused by a prescription drugs include being male, middle-aged, White or American Indian, Alaskan Native, and living in a rural community. How can the federal government make a difference? The federal government is “promoting programs and policies shown to prevent prescription drug overdose” (cdc.gov). How can you make a difference? Only use prescription drugs as directed by your physician, and do not share your prescription drugs with anyone else for any reason. For more information on this subject, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/Features/VitalSigns/PainkillerOverdoses/ and
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