Looking back at Covid-19 in 2020, as of last November, almost 1 million Americans were hospitalized for Covid-19 related issues. The top 3 chronic conditions associated with these patients were:
#1 Obesity – 30%
#2 Diabetes – 20%
#3 Hypertension – 26%
If you look at combinations of these conditions, which they often are, the percentage goes up significantly.
Not surprisingly, these are also 3 of the top 5 chronic conditions which plague Americans in general. 42% of Americans are obese (another 33% are overweight). Nearly half (45%) of American adults have hypertension. And at least 10% have diabetes with another 20% having pre diabetes (that’s almost 1/3rd of the country). Add to that all the people walking around with hypertension and diabetes who don’t know it, and you are left with one sick population.
Of the people who claim that their hypertension is “genetic”, less than 1% truely are. The rest, you got it, lifestyle choices. The same goes for obesity and diabetes. What we really inherit are familial lifestyle habits.
These conditions are not just adult diseases. 20% of young people under 20 are already obese, not just overweight. This even includes realy young kids with 14% of 2-5 year olds now being classified as obese. 19% of adolescent-age boys and 12% of girls have pre-hypertension or hypertension. One study revealed that 65% of over 700 asymptomatic teens and kids had measurable, in some cases advanced, heart disease and 7% of U.S. children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 have high total cholesterol. Diagnosis of type 2 (adult onset) diabetes has risen by 30% in kids since 2000. It’s no longer called “adult-onset” diabetes.
These health issues go way past Covid risks. I have mentioned in previous posts that for the last 2 years, American life expectancy has gone backwards and our present generation of kids are no longer expected to outlive their parents as all previous generations had.
We can all improve our health and it starts in early childhood. Obese kids are at 4x greater risk of significant heart disease by middle age than their normal weight peers. Our culture doesn’t help. We are one of 2 countries in the world (the other is Syria) who allow direct marketing of junk food and beverages to children. We are also one of only 2 countries, the other being New Zealand I believe, that allow such liberal direct-to-consumer marketing of pharmaceuticals. I heard a term recently “Weapons of Mass Distraction”. Although we are all ultimately responsible for our own actions, the inondation of media, advertising and bad news is incredible, and difficult to ignore. It definitely impacts on our internal psyche.
Change is hard but change we must.
Work on it, but in the meantime, whether you have been vaccinated or not, whether you had covid or not, it is imperative that we continue to be vigilant. The variants are on the rise. Some infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists are calling this time of improved numbers the “eye of the storm”. The next surge may be just around the corner after spring break!
Stay safe and be well.
AC