July 3, 2020 — The cost of delayed care for chronic diseases – such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes – is steep in this pandemic. In fact, three separate analyses this week give us a glimpse of excess deaths in the early months of this continuing tragedy. But unfortunately, pinning these numbers down is a tricky business. However, […]
July 2, 2020 — Sometimes, a health crisis serves to clear the mind and prompt scientific curiosity. In fact, we see that in a steady stream of new research building an understanding of how COVID-19 leaves some people unharmed and others devastated. A new paper in Obesity offers a fine example. Ming Deng and colleagues bring new insights to […]
June 22, 2020 — We are in a moment when life and death and race and ethnicity are forcing conversations that White people politely avoid. It’s uncomfortable. But the brutal deaths of Black people at the hands of police have become impossible to ignore. And in the COVID-19 pandemic, Black and Latino people are dying in numbers that make […]
June 17, 2020 — A randomized controlled trial (RCT) in surgery is quite a challenge. For good reason, people are reluctant to sign up for a study in which they might randomly get surgery. Or not. Surgery is a big decision and leaving it to chance doesn’t sit well with most people. Yet an RCT is the very best […]
June 11, 2020 — America is having a moment. Civil unrest and a still-unfolding pandemic display a gaping wound in the public life of this nation. Disparities in justice and health are impossible to ignore and it shows up in the disparate effects of obesity on racial and ethnic minorities. Attention Span and the Possibilities for Change As distressing […]
June 1, 2020 — Complexity makes the brain hurt. Both nutrition and obesity present challenges that resist simple answers. There is no one healthful way to eat, though many false prophets of nutrition will preach that they have the one true way. Quick fixes for obesity are rare, though many people are eager to tell us that they know […]
May 28, 2020 — It’s an odd irony. New data, released yesterday from the Kaiser Family Foundation, tells us that people are skipping healthcare because of the COVID-19 health crisis. In fact, roughly half (48 percent) of Americans say they or someone in their household have postponed healthcare due to the pandemic. One in five (23 percent) of those […]
May 27, 2020 — It seemed like a good idea at the time. Build incentives for employees for wellness into health benefit packages. Employees “volunteer” to give up some health privacy in order to have their employers collect health data on them. They get a little financial incentive to participate and then more incentive if their health data improves. […]
May 26, 2020 — This is not about me – not my problem personally. It’s a problem for other people and I feel for them. I really do. In the midst of a health crisis, those words suggest we’re not serious about solving the problem for everyone. For decades now, we’ve heard it about obesity. And now we’re hearing […]
May 17, 2020 — We’re in the midst of a health crisis. And yet, oddly enough, healthcare has come to a halt in many ways. Dental offices are closed. People are staying away from their doctors. Emergency rooms are deadly quiet. Outside of the intense activity required to save the lives of people suffering severe encounters with COVID-19, healthcare […]
