Short and Long Term Air Pollution Can Lead to Elder Hospitalizations
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| Jeremy Walker |
Both short-term and long-term exposure to air pollution can lead to increased hospitalizations among older individuals.
Short-term exposure to air pollution has been linked to spikes in hospitalizations among the elderly for causes ranging from pneumonia to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. However, less is known about the effects of chronic exposure.
Researchers defined long-term exposure as the average exposure in a Zip code for the 7-year study, and short-term exposure as the difference between the 2-day average exposure and the long-term average exposure.
The researchers then examined Medicare admissions to some 3,000 area hospitals for diagnoses of all respiratory causes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes from 2000 to 2008.
For all causes in areas with high levels of pollution, women were more commonly hospitalized, accounting for 56% of admissions for respiratory conditions, 55% of admissions for cardiovascular disease, 59% for strokes, and 57% for diabetes.
For 13 years, the American Lung Association has analyzed data from state air quality monitors to compile the State of the Air report. The more you learn about the air you breathe, the more you can protect your health and take steps to make our air cleaner andåÊhealthier.
The Power of Vulnerability
I was blown away with this video because it is the essence of what we are doing in healthcare.
Bren̩ Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past ten years studying vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame. She spent the first five years of her decade-long study focusing on shame and empathy, and is now using that work to explore a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness.
She poses the question: How do we learn to embrace our vulnerabilities and imperfections so that we can engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness?
Wholehearted people exhibit the following:
- The courage to be imperfect.
- The compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others, because as it turns out, we canÛªt practice compassion with other people if we canÛªt treat ourselves kindly.
- Connection as a result of authenticity. They were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were and you have to absolutely do that for connection.
They fully embraced vulnerability. What made them vulnerable made them beautiful.
Mastering Self. The first step to compassion. And the first step in what we do with organizations.
When Will Social Security and Medicare Run Out?
The latest versions of the annual Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports were recently released and funding reserves for the overall Social Security program is now expected to run out of money in 2033 — three years earlier than trustees expected last year.
The retirement part of the program will run out in 2035; the disability program will dry up in 2016, two years earlier than last year’s prediction.åÊ
The Medicare trust fund will run out of money in 2024 under current projections.åÊ
As baby boomers approach retirement age, there are fewer workers in the younger generations to pay taxes to support their monthly benefits. That means benefits may be cut benefits by about a quarter across the board when the trust fund assets run out according to experts.
I have tried to make the case here over the years that you must start preparing for aging – emotionally, physically and financially – sooner in life and you cannot expect that current programs will help you. In fact you are better to act as if they will not be there when you start to look at your savings patterns.
The best person to help you is YOU!
Hearing Health – Never Too Early to be Concerned
Can you imagine living in a world where you canÛªt hear music? What about being unable to hear the dialogue of your favorite movie? Hearing loss is a problem shared by many of all ages, but did you know that hearing loss among seniors is rapidly becoming a growing public health issue?
Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System found that approximatelyåÊ44% of people suffer from significant hearing loss by age 69Û_66% by age 79Û_ andåÊ90% after age 80. The number of Americans affected by hearing loss is also expected to shoot up- from about 36 million Americans today to 78 million by the year 2030.
Because of these stats, The New York Eye and Ear InfirmaryÛªs (NYEE) has announced a new hearing health initiative. Their PSA featuring world-renowned trumpeter and composer Chris Botti and composer, singer, author, actor, and activist Sting is embedded here.
The PSA was created to raise awareness about hearing loss, particularly among baby boomers and urges viewers to visit a new educational website about hearing health. Hearing loss can impact our relationships, work, leisure pursuits and even safety. ThatÛªs why all adults should take control of their hearing health as soon as possible.
As a musician I can relate to the hearing issue. Fortunately I have not suffered at least yet. I jokingly say I can hear two seniors talking to each other in the last row of a crowded auditorium and then shock them when I recite what they said. On the other hand, my wife says I cannot hear her two feet across the table!
Find out more about hearing health and take an Online Hearing Quiz to learn how healthy your hearing really is.
You can also visit their Facebook page and enter the NYEEÛªs Favorite Sounds Sweepstakes. Choose to ÛÏlikeÛ the page by recording your own favorite sounds, and by doing so enter the sweepstakes. The sweepstakes prize is the $5,000-value opportunity for the winner and ten friends to share dinner with Chris Botti at The New York Eye and Ear InfirmaryÛªs November 15 fundraising gala.
