Oral health is more than a nice smile. Having good oral health improves a person’s ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, and eat. Plus, tooth decay and gum disease have been linked with other health problems like heart disease, stroke and diabetes, as well as premature births. Given the potential link between oral [...]
Chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes cause 70% of deaths in the US these days… absorbing 75% of the $2.5T spent on annual medical care costs. When it comes to employee healthcare expenses- the indirect costs of poor health like absenteeism, disability, and reduced work output can be several times higher than direct medical [...]
About 1/3 of American adults have high blood pressure and more than half of them don’t have it under control. The majority of people with high blood pressure are being treated with medicine and have seen a doctor at least twice in the past year… but their pressure still isn't under control, according to a new [...]
I’m happy to share our new Arizona Chronic Disease Strategic Plan. This past year, our team from the Bureau of Tobacco & Chronic Disease worked with community partners from across the state on a new guiding document for chronic disease prevention and health promotion. This strategic plan will be used by ADHS, county health departments, and community partners [...]
Protecting the health and wellbeing of our children is critical to the future of Arizona. September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Arizona ranks 15th in the nation in childhood obesity with almost 18% of Arizona children (10 to 17) being obese. Obesity puts our children at early risk for conditions we normally associate with [...]
Our Tobacco and Chronic Disease team released the 2011 Diabetes Burden Report this week. And you guessed it- a primary cause is a lack of physical activity and poor nutrition (I know I sound like a broken record). Diabetes is linked to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney failure, neuropathy and even amputations. Sadly, [...]
Life is a precious gift. None of us knows long our gift will last, so it’s important to make the most of every day. That means doing everything you can to stay healthy by eating well and exercising regularly. A lot of folks will say – I’m stuck with my health because of my genes, [...]
Keeping off the pounds is tough at any age. Now seniors are getting a helping hand from Medicare. Last month Medicare announced that it’s adding coverage for nutritional and behavioral counseling for those who are obese as measured by body mass index or BMI. BMI is a tool which measures weight status for adults- and [...]
A few months ago our tobacco & chronic disease prevention team was awarded a CDC grant to increase coordination and collaboration on evidence-based interventions addressing the leading causes of chronic diseases in Arizona (heart disease, cancer, pulmonary disease, stroke, diabetes, and arthritis). The Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion grant will look for ways we [...]
I’ve written several pieces over the last few weeks highlighting our efforts to better integrate primary healthcare into the treatment plans for folks with mental illnesses- but the issue of providing better coordinated care for folks with multiple chronic medical conditions is really far bigger than this integration issue. More than 25% of Americans have multiple [...]
