People who live in rural areas often have a hard time finding physicians who will treat them. Nearly 80% of rural areas are designated ‘medically underserved’ according to Washington Post. In Van Horn, Texas, for example, there is one physician for a community of 11,000 square miles.
Category: Direct Primary Care
Obesity is Skyrocketing (So is the variety of snack foods)
USA Today has just published a series of articles on obesity in America, saying:
More than 4 in 10 Americans now fit the medical definition for having obesity, putting them at risk for serious health problems, including diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer. The pandemic increased the stakes. In its first year, nearly one-third of severe COVID-19 cases were blamed on excess weight.
USA Today… spoke with more than 50 experts – in nutrition, endocrinology, psychology, exercise physiology and neuroscience – and people who are intimately familiar with the challenges of extra pounds.
Monday Links
- Good news: The FCC is cracking down on robocalls.
- The case for Novavax.
- Lancet study: rising global temperatures since 2000 have caused 116,000 more heat deaths annually, but also led to 283,000 fewer cold deaths.
- The doctor doesn’t know best: health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers are switching mental health patients from a prescribed medication to one that may not work as well.
- How well does Paxlovid really work?
- Why is America’s mortality rate higher than that of other nations? Study considers every possibility except the obvious one: our population is heterogeneous. Last time I looked, Americans of northern European descent have the same life expectancy as northern Europeans.
New Antibiotics Are Desperately Needed: Why Drug Makers Won’t Develop Them
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are a growing. Worse yet, the pipeline of new antibiotic drugs in development are few and far between. It’s been several years since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new antibiotic. The FDA recently declined to approve two new applications for drugs to treat urinary tract infections (sulopenem and tebipenem). The agency wants more data on the efficacy compared to drugs currently on the market. It’s not likely to get better anytime soon.