Innovation.org, December 16, 2009
In the midst of the high-profile health care reform debate, 2009 quietly marked another year of important advances against serious diseases and conditions.
There have been advances across diseases and life expectancy reached an all time high of 77.9 years.[i] Findings like this demonstrate the progress we are making as a result of prevention, early detection and better treatments. Likewise, we’ve seen positive trends in many disease areas this year. Here are just a few examples:
HIV/AIDS: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this year that between 2006 and 2007 the HIV/AIDS death rate fell 10%, which was the largest single-year decline since 1998.[ii] Antiretroviral drugs have been instrumental in bringing death rates down and the disease has become a chronic condition for many, rather than an acute fatal illness. Since the mid-1990s, when researchers developed this new wave of medicines to treat HIV/AIDS, the U.S. death rate from AIDS dropped by more than 70 percent.[iii]
Cancer: The American Association for Cancer Research published a study in August 2009 showing that for people in their 40s, cancer mortality rates have been falling by 26% per decade.[iv] Although most age-adjusted mortality figures show that cancer deaths were rising until the mid-1990s, this study emphasized the fact that among younger age groups death rates have been falling since perhaps the mid-1950s and continues today. The authors attribute the trend to improvements in cancer detection, treatment and prevention.
Cardiovascular disease: The number of hospitalized patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) declined by 31% in the last decade, knocking CAD from the top cause of hospitalization to third place, according to new data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In an interview with HealthLeaders Media, AHRQ analyst Anne Elixhauser said, "A lot of people think it's because we have better control of risk factors…. We've decreased smoking, we have better control of cholesterol, and blood pressure," which she said is credited to better lifestyle awareness and the use of drugs like statins.[v]
Other cardiovascular diseases showed great progress in the AHRQ report as well. For example, hospitalizations for stroke and heart attacks are down 14% and 15%, respectively, compared with ten years ago.
Other cardiovascular diseases showed great progress in the AHRQ report as well. For example, hospitalizations for stroke and heart attacks are down 14% and 15%, respectively, compared with ten years ago.
These examples demonstrate some of the improvements that are happening in the health of Americans as a result of improvements in lifestyle, prevention, detection and treatments. There are, however, many challenges on the horizon as the nation ages, obesity becomes more prevalent and chronic diseases affect more people. New treatments will be an important part of combating these worrisome trends. Today, in the US, there are over 2,900 medicines in clinical trials or awaiting FDA approval.[vi] Researchers are using new strategies to attack disease. They are working on dozens of different approaches to treating Alzheimer’s disease, they are searching for an HIV vaccine, they are studying promising drugs to treat Lou Gehrig’s disease and lupus, and they are using genetics to better target treatments for many diseases. Although the challenges are many, progress promises to continue in the coming years.
[i] HHS, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, J. Xu, et al. “Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2007,” National Vital Statistics Reports, 58, no. 1, p. 1, (19 August 2009) http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_01.pdf (Accessed 4 December 2009).
[ii] HHS, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, J. Xu, et al. “Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2007,” National Vital Statistics Reports, 58, no. 1, p. 5, (19 August 2009) http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_01.pdf (Accessed 4 December 2009).
[v] C. Clark, “Heart Disease is No Longer Leading Reason for Patient Admission,” HealthLeaders Media, 24 September 2009, http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/239484/topic/WS_HLM2_QUA/Heart-Disease-is-no-Longer-Leading-Reason-for-Patient-Admission.html (Accessed 4 December 2009).
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