 had stopped smoking more than 20 years earlier. While nearly everyone agrees that you can help yourself avoid lung cancer by kicking the habit, this study suggests that the effects of smoking are not as quickly reversed as some might think.
Smoking in the United States has decreased from 42 percent in 1965 to 25 percent in 1993. About 25 percent of the population are now former smokers.
Different Care for Insurance Patients
A study of terminally ill patients in a hospital intensive care unit14 finds that patients without health insurance are withdrawn from life-sustaining treatment almost twice as often as privately insured patients. Researchers do not think that this means uninsured patients are getting inferior care, rather, they feel that insured patients, who incur more than twice the charges, are receiving "futile treatment."
The Price of Being First
China is the largest tobacco producing and consuming country in the world with about 30 percent of all cigarettes in the world being consumed there. In 1989, tobacco pumped about $3 billion into the Chinese economy and in that country. However, the Chinese Academy for Preventive Medicine reports that direct economic losses due to smoking were more, weighing in at $3.3 billion. Essentially, the Chinese spent more on treating tobacco related health conditions that they made in sales.
Respiratory Inflammation from the Gulf War
A small sampling of Gulf War veterans has found that about 90 percent have a chronic inflammation of the upper respiratory system leading to airway obstructions. Some of the subjects were asymptomatic, but many suffered from shortness of breath, fatigue (caused by sleep apnea) and other symptoms. The inflammation is thought to be caused by the thick smoke produced by the burning Kuwaiti oil fields.
Dental Equipment and Legionella
Researchers analyzing water gathered from drills and syringes in dental offices have found high concentrations of legionella bacteria in 40 percent of the samples.15 The bacteria, named for the respiratory disorder known as Legionnaire's disease, seems to live and multiply in the water lines associated with dental equipment. Other known breeding grounds include damp places such as shower heads, air conditioners, and hot tubs. Studies in Europe have shown that about 50 percent of dental personnel are infected with a strain of the bacteria, while it is seen in only five percent of the general population.16 Normally it is associated with a mild respiratory infection unless the host is weakened.
Iron Good for Learning
A study at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Maryland has found that teenage girls who are deficient in iron, yet not classified as anemic, achieve significantly less on verbal learning tests than similar girls who took 260 mg. iron supplements over an eight-week time period. The pediatrician who undertook the study17 estimates that 25 percent of adolescent girls in the United States are iron-deficient.
Brian Sutton, DC
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