Best story in the news so far today comes from the New York Times ‘Health of Nations’ section, which suggests The United States is a nation of hypochondriacs.
The American-English comparison, published this month in The Journal of the American Medical Association, analyzed data from people’s own reports of their health and also used some objective measures: a blood test for diabetes, using hemoglobin A1c, and blood tests for proteins associated with heart disease risk, fibrinogen and C-reactive.
Their blunt conclusion?
“Americans are much sicker than the English,” wrote the investigators, led by Dr. Michael Marmot of University College Medical School in London.
People tried to find reasons. Maybe, many said, the problem is that Americans are under too much stress.
>snip< The question of which country is healthier, Dr. Hadler and others say, turns out to be a perfect illustration of an issue that has plagued American medicine: the more health problems you look for, the more you find. And Americans, medical researchers say, are avid about looking. >snip<
One day, as Dr. Meador tells it, a doctor-in-training was asked by his professor to define a well person. The resident thought for a moment. A well person, he said, is “someone who has not been completely worked up.”
After reading this, I feel more ‘well’ than ever! The many diagnostic tests many people routinely endure are simply not affordable to those of us without health insurance. Therefore, no mammograms, colonoscopies, pap smears and so on equal No Stress. Ahhhhh, ignorance truly IS bliss!
