April 15, 2023 — New surveillance data from the U.S. Defense Health Agency tells us that the pandemic brought a large jump in diabetes, obesity, and eating disorders in the military. Between 2018 and 2021, the prevalence of obesity rose from 16 percent to 19 percent. The incidence of type 2 diabetes jumped by 25 percent and new cases […]
September 27, 2022 — We’re not quite done with COVID-19 – roughly 400 people are still dying daily from it in the U.S. But some of our leaders are saying the pandemic is over. Well, we’ll leave that debate to the poli-med pundits. However it’s worth noting that it looks like we’re not on track to go back to […]
August 31, 2022 — It is nothing short of jaw dropping – U.S. life expectancy once again dropped by almost two years. This news comes from the CDC National Center for Health Statistics, which released provisional stats for 2021 today. Up until 2014, the U.S. had seen steady rises in life expectancy. Then in 2015, we saw a small […]
August 24, 2022 — In so many ways, it’s become plain that children have carried a big burden in the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, there have been disruptions to their social and educational lives. They’ve suffered trauma from losing parents and caregivers. And then there’s the documented rise in obesity. But just last week came some of the most […]
April 8, 2022 — It is a depressingly familiar story in America. We spend more on health and get less – the rich get richer and the sick get sicker. So now this means we’re getting less life expectancy. A new analysis by Ryan Masters, Laudan Aron, and Steven Woolf says that U.S. mortality increased last year. American life […]
April 7, 2022 — An appealing narrative is hard to resist. When it’s grounded in facts, it can be a powerful way to inform people. But it can just as easily be a tool for misinformation. All too often, a storyline forms around an anecdote or mere speculation. Such is the case with the one about a spike in […]
April 5, 2022 — We are close to reaching a million deaths from COVID in the U.S. Worldwide, the number passed six million a month ago and that number is a gross underestimate. So there can be no doubt that the pandemic has had a terrible effect on health everywhere. But in the midst of this tragedy, we can […]
April 2, 2022 — If you had any doubt that the last two years have been a trial for young people, new research from the CDC should put that to rest. In the MMWR yesterday, CDC published striking data on the mental and behavioral health of teens in the midst of the pandemic. In short, researchers found them in […]
February 19, 2022 — To folks who concern themselves with eating disorders, this is not news. Rather, it is confirmation. The pandemic has brought a sharp rise in eating disorders. A new report yesterday in the MMWR provides solid documentation. In fact, the proportion of emergency department visits with eating disorders doubled for teenage girls during the pandemic. Emily […]
