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U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

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Re: U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

#111

Post by bluedino »

mjevans wrote: post #94
vorpalhex wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American palettes are screwed up. Most people wouldn't eat a meal of a simple salad, some lean protein and a multigrain carb.

American "salads" are BS. * BS Leaf (some worthless lettuce) * Mostly filler of BS Leaf * Poor in vegetables * Poor in seeds / nuts * Frequently small or cheap protein * A 'shelf stable' dressing for flavor Yes, I've _considered_ making a salad at home, but by the time I buy ingredients I either have to eat the same for half a week in a row to try to use them up before they go bad, or just outright overpay. No, I can…

Casual dining chains have hilariously high calorie "salads"

Clocking in at 1,570 calories: Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad With Crispy Chicken

Re: U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

#112

Post by bluedino »

windowsrookie wrote: post #66
jimt1234 wrote: post #37

Obesity. I grew up in a "deep red" area of the Midwest. It wasn't always like this, but it seems obesity is the norm now. And obesity has many health consequences. It's probably more cultural than political, though.

I live in the Midwest. If you drive past the suburbs, the only restaurants available are fast food burger, fried chicken and pizza chains, with a subway thrown in (I don't consider subway healthy). Obviously it's not profitable to own a healthy restaurant out there, but why? Is it a lack of healthy eating education? Is it a "harder" life and junk food is a reward? Or is it cost? If it's cost, healthy home cooked food…

Guess what - thirty years ago the restaurants were all fries and burgers and we weren't overweight. We just eat out more, the portions are larger, and we love huge sugary drinks.

Re: U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

#113

Post by belltaco »

jtbayly wrote: post #89
Retric wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One party is hurting their own constituents by limiting access to healthcare at the state level. Verifying this actually has negative outcomes isn’t inherently political. Imagine if the research showed zero correlation, that would have been far more interesting. Understanding the outcomes of political choices isn’t inherently political. It’s completely reasonable for someone to say yes this saves lives but it’s still…

Really? Only thing I can think of that is (sort of) a political decision to “limit health care” is refusing to expand Medicaid. I know that didn’t happen across the board for Republican counties/states, though, so what in the world are you claiming?

A different track, but the political decision on many on the right(media and personalities) to minimize the dangers of the virus, and demonize the vaccines caused bad outcomes.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/red-blue-america-glaring-divid...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/08/briefing/covid-death-toll...

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/03/03/the-changing...

Re: U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

#114

Post by BeFlatXIII »

windowsrookie wrote: post #66
jimt1234 wrote: post #37

Obesity. I grew up in a "deep red" area of the Midwest. It wasn't always like this, but it seems obesity is the norm now. And obesity has many health consequences. It's probably more cultural than political, though.

I live in the Midwest. If you drive past the suburbs, the only restaurants available are fast food burger, fried chicken and pizza chains, with a subway thrown in (I don't consider subway healthy). Obviously it's not profitable to own a healthy restaurant out there, but why? Is it a lack of healthy eating education? Is it a "harder" life and junk food is a reward? Or is it cost? If it's cost, healthy home cooked food…

It's faster to get fast food than to cook at home. In the usual nuclear family, that's probably what they default to when both parents are working full-time.

[Yes, it's possible to make food in bulk on the weekends. There is no need to spam that helpful suggestion in the replies.]

Re: U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

#115

Post by smt88 »

orwin wrote: post #65
tokai wrote: post #5

Doesn't this just reflect the class of the average voter of the two parties, ie. measuring the different socio-economic realities? Seems a bit over the top to hitch it all on ‘political environment’. I'm no expert but it feels like these MDs should have gotten a social scientist or two to co-author.

Shouldn't the median republican voter have an higher income (and way higher capital) than the median democrat voter? I agree that if you go only at the top decile, the median democrat voter could make a bit more than the median republican voter (idk really), but if you take the whole population? I remember 2016 Sanders campaign funding. Also, i went to West Virginia, an know the people there, happen to meet the local…

> Shouldn't the median republican voter have an higher income (and way higher capital) than the median democrat voter?

It's not really this simple anymore.

Americans are sorting into the party of college grads (Democrats) and the party of non-college-grads (Republicans). This doesn't translate as neatly to income as you might think, but it's definitely a factor.

> they eat venison and a lot of homegrown vegetables, they ride horses and sell lilies (no joke), brew their (mostly) bad beer and throw day-long parties on sunday

This is not typical of any large group of voters, including in West Virginia. As someone who grew up there, I can tell you that most people buy food from Walmart. They don't grow it. There is certainly eating of venison, but frozen pizza is certainly more popular. Horses (and the riding of them) is uncommon.

Re: U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

#116

Post by tomrod »

classichasclass wrote: post #38
yesfitz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are SDoH and ADI?

SDoH: Social determinants of health Not sure if this is what OP meant, but I read ADI as acceptable daily intake. Area deprivation index might also fit.

Apologies for the jargon

ADI: Area Deprivation index

https://www.neighborhoodatlas.medicine.wisc.edu/

Re: U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

#117

Post by tomrod »

wffurr wrote: post #33
yesfitz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are SDoH and ADI?

SDoH: https://i.imgur.com/SJUL4P6.png ADI was a little harder, landed on https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.120.020466 after a few searches.

Indeed!

The current iteration: https://www.neighborhoodatlas.medicine.wisc.edu/

Re: U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

#118

Post by m_mueller »

corrral wrote: post #104
jltsiren wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Finnish perspective on cold. Our seasons are not as extreme as in the Midwest, but our culture has adapted to cold winters by necessity. The winter clothes you wear when traveling from one indoor place to another are not appropriate for extended outdoor use, and the other way around. Many people need years or even decades to accept that they have to dress differently for the outdoors. Until that, they often think…

> Finnish residential areas almost always have forests with walking trails nearby. I haven't been to the Midwest, but my impression is that American urban planning doesn't like leaving large undeveloped areas everyone is free to roam near developed areas. That often leaves the residents with nowhere to go by foot. That's the case where I am. 15 minute bike ride to reach the nearest park of any kind. There are no publ…

Wow, what a shame! I guess when there is too much land, politics don’t appreciate it anymore? But I think it should be reverseable - in Central Europe, forests got pretty much eliminated in pre-industrial age to get firewood. But since then there was a pretty significant reforestation. Well managed forests can be fairly profitable - you can get high quality food for furniture and housing, have family activities there etc. Around here, people of all political colors are big on hiking, doing some outdoor grilling or going to forest playgrounds. Plus, nowadays there is also a significant financial incentive in the form of CO2 certificates. Couldn’t that tip the scale towards reforestation?

Re: U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

#119

Post by musicale »

bjourne wrote: post #60

A key takeaway from the study is that Americans are getting healthier. Figure 5 shows a big drop in heart disease which must be due to more exercise and better eating habits. Also: "In this national analysis, we found that Americans living in counties that voted Democratic during presidential elections from 2000 to 2016 experienced lower age adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs) than residents of counties that voted for a…

> sex, race and ethnicity, urban-rural location

What about income/economic class?

Re: U.S. death rates show how politics are affecting public health

#120

Post by bjourne »

ricw wrote: post #72
bjourne wrote: post #60

A key takeaway from the study is that Americans are getting healthier. Figure 5 shows a big drop in heart disease which must be due to more exercise and better eating habits. Also: "In this national analysis, we found that Americans living in counties that voted Democratic during presidential elections from 2000 to 2016 experienced lower age adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs) than residents of counties that voted for a…

Not a doctor, but I believe that has to do with vastly improved survival rates for heart attacks. Hospitals have just gotten much better about it, by knowing that they have to act fast and having procedures in place to ensure that happens. 20 years ago a heart attack had a very high chance of death, even if you’re close to a hospital. These days, you’re much less likely to die if you get to a hospital / medic in time…

Didn't think about that. Regardless, the other decreases in AAMR are consistent with improved health. It cannot all be due to improved healthcare.
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