Naps reduce heart related death

In order to lower the risk of heart-related death, a person should take 3 half-hour naps each week.

$150 billion is the amount of money due to lost productivity that fatigue costs U.S. businesses each year.

(Source: Time Magazine)

Technorati tags: Fatigue, Nap

Average Number of Children

6.1 is the average number of children that women bear in Rwanda, whose population is expected to double by 2030. (Source: Time Magazine)

Technorati tags: Rwanda, Average Number of Children

Fighting Measles

345,000 people died of measles in 2005, down 60% from 1999, beating a goal set by the United Nations. The cost of measles vaccine is 16 cents which is often unaffordable in the Third World without underwriting from charities and foreign governments. (Source: Time Magazine)

Healthcare Spending in 2005

Medicare spending now accounts for 45 percent of total health spending

Medicare growth for physician services was 9.5 percent in 2005 (slightly slower than the 10.4 percent growth in 2004)

Spending for hospital care accounted for the largest share of overall health care in 2005, reaching $611.6 billion, with growth stable at 7.9 percent in both 2004 and 2005

Spending for physician and clinical services reached $421.2 billion in 2005, an increase of 7.0 percent over 2004

Fastest growing segment of healthcare spending: home healthcare agencies (increasing 11.1 percent to $47.5 billion. This is the third straight year of double digit growth, driven by strong growth in public payments, which accounted for 75 percent of total home health spending in 2005. As the boomers age, expect this to skyrocket)

Nursing home expenditures increased 6.0 percent in 2005, following growth of 4.1 percent in 2004, to $121.9 billion. Medicaid, representing 44 percent of funding for nursing home care, grew 3.9 percent in 2005. Medicare increased 12.0 percent in 2005 after increasing 16.2 percent in 2004

Private health insurance contributed $694.4 billion (64 percent), out-of-pocket payments contributed $249.4 billion (23 percent), and other private funds made up the remaining $141.2 billion (13 percent)

Private health insurance premiums grew 6.6 percent in 2005, slowing from 7.9 percent in 2004

Total spending for prescription drugs in 2005 was $200.7 billion, compared to $189.7 billion in 2004

Private sources of funding, which include out-of-pocket and private health insurance spending, accounted for 73 percent of spending for prescription drugs in 2005 and grew just 6.0 percent in 2005 compared to 7.2 percent in 2004

Medicare spending for prescription drugs grew 19.7 percent in 2005, but does not include expenditures associated with the full Part D prescription drug benefit, which did not begin until January 1, 2006

(Source: http://blogs.bsti.com/healthcare/)

Health Statistics for USA

Americans are 19% healthier now than in 1990 but keep in mind that as a nation USA is 110% fatter and 19% more of americans have no health insurance.

North and South Dakota:  Both states have cut the prevalence of infectious disease nearly 75% since 1990. North Dakota has a very low crime rate: 98 offenses per 100,000 people, compared with, say, South Carolina’s 761.

Minnesota: Minnesotans scored 21% above the U.S. norm, thanks to factors like a high rate of employer-provided health insurance. Still 1 in 4 are obese, which the state will combat with a child-cenric plan.

Vermont: It is the most improved – 31% healthier – since 1990. Smoking is down 37%, and child poverty has dropped 28%.

Utah: It has the lowest smoking rate in the U.S. – just 11.5%.

Oklahoma: The state improved the least since 1990, up a mere 6.4%.

Texas: It is the worst with health insurance – 24% of the Texans lack it.

Louisiana: The state in which 1 in 3 people are obese has always ranked in the bottom two. But there is some progress. This year violent crime is down a healthy 7%.

(Source: Time Magazine)

Injuries to children on school buses

17,000 is the number of injuries requiring hospital treatment that are suffered by children on school buses each year, according to a report that recommended that districts consider mandating seat belts on buses. (Source: Time Magazine)

Birth Numbers

1.77 is the newborn-mortality rate per 1,000 babies delivered by voluntary caesarean section, according to a study of 6 million U.S. births.

0.62 is the newborn-mortality rate oer 1,000 vaginal births.

29.1% of U.S. births by C-section in 2004, up from 20.7% in 1996.

(SOURCE: Time Magazine)

Cigarettes

990 billion cigarettes sold globally last year by the Philip Morris divisions of Altria (No. 20), making it the secon-largest cigarette manufacturer worldwide, after China National Tobacco, which most recently reported 2004 sales of 1.9 trillion cigarettes. (SOURCE: Fortune Magazine)

Eye Infections

130 confirmed eye infections in the U.S. linked to Bausch & Lomb's ReNu with MoistureLoc contact-lens solution, recalled few weeks back. (SOURCE: Time Magazine)

Medicare Sign ups

89% proportion of senior citizens on Medicare who signed up for drug coverage before the deadline; 4.5 million had not. (SOURCE : Time Magazine)