February is typically when we celebrate Black History. Although the month is over today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent out health statistics that we should think about all year long. Much of this information is already public knowledge, we’ve reported this all before, but looking at all these bullet points together is rather startling. (Keep in mind health data typically lags behind a few years, these are from 2004).

• Heart Disease: the death rate for heart disease was about 30 percent higher for African Americans (280.6 per 100,000 population) than for white Americans. (213.3 per 100,000 population).

• Cancer: the death rate for malignant neoplasm disease was about 20 percent higher for African Americans (227.2 per 100,000 population) than for white Americans. (184.4 per 100,000 population).

• Stroke: the death rate for cerebrovascular disease was about 50 percent higher for African Americans (69.9 per 100,000 population) than for white Americans (48.0 per 100,000 population).

• Type 2 Diabetes: the death rate for diabetes was more than twice as high for African Americans (48.0 per 100,000 population) as for white Americans (22.3 per 100,000 population).

• Unintentional Injuries: the death rate for unintentional injuries was more than twice as high for African Americans (36.3 per 100,000 population) as for white Americans (15.6 per 100,000 population).

In 2005, the majority (82 percent) of all reported tuberculosis cases in the United States occurred in racial and ethnic
minorities. The rate of TB in black, non-Hispanics was 8 times higher than the rate of TB in white non-Hispanics (10.8 cases per 100,000 in blacks, versus 1.3 cases per 100,000 in whites) with the geographic concentration of TB in African-Americans is in the Southeast and Northeast.

Nearly 100 babies died in their cribs between 2002 and 2004, according to an analysis by the “U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission”http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08203.html.

Here are some crib safety tips from the agency:

•To reduce the risk of SIDS and suffocation, place baby to sleep on his or her back in a crib that meets current safety standards
•To prevent suffocation never use a pillow as a mattress for baby to sleep on or to prop baby’s head or neck
•Infants can strangle to death if their bodies pass through gaps generated between loose components, broken slats and other parts of the crib and their head and neck become entrapped in the space.
•Do not use old, broken or modified cribs
•Regularly tighten hardware to keep sides firm
•Infants can suffocate in spaces generated between the sides of the crib and an ill fitted mattress; never allow a gap larger than two fingers at any point between the sides of the crib and the mattress
•Never place a crib near a window with blind or curtain cords; infants can strangle on curtain or blind cords.
•Properly set up play yards according to manufacturers’ directions. Only use the mattress provided with the play yard. Do not add extra mattresses, pillows or cushions to the play yard, which can cause a suffocation hazard for infants.
•Routinely check nursery products against CPSC recall lists and remove recalled products from your home

I’m sorry I missed Saturday Night Live last week because it was the first episode since the Writer’s Strike. A reader of this blog, however, just showed me what I missed. It’s a hilarious piece for a one-period-per year birth control pill. I simply can’t resist sharing. Enjoy!

Click HERE to check it out or cut and paste the link below into your browser.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=221774

A panel at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this morning voted to expand the annual flu vaccine requirements to include all children older than six months, reported Mike Stobbe of the Associated Press.

That means about 30 million more children would get the flu shots — raising the number of people getting vaccinated by more than 50 percent.

Some pediatricians and school officials have said that the move was long over due. Others say that the overall faith in the flu shot this year has been shaken because the vaccine failed to include the strain that seems to be the most popular this season. This has caused some people to get the flu even though they got their shots.

Pediatricians get their recommendations from the CDC, so expect yours to tell you about this. What do you think? Are you going to have your child vaccinated for the flu?

You mother might have been on to something when she told you to eat your broccoli. A study in the March issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research found that a concentrated extract of freeze dried broccoli sprouts cut development of bladder tumors in animals by more than half.

This finding reinforces human epidemiologic studies that have suggested that eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli is associated with reduced risk for bladder cancer, according to the study’s senior investigator, Yuesheng Zhang, professor of oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

Dr. Michele Blackwood, director of the Breast and Women’s Health Prevention Services at Nyack Hospital, will be the guest speaker at the Rockland business Women’s Network monthly luncheon at noon on March 12 at the Casa Mia Manor House in Blauvelt. Blackwood will speak about “The 10 Ways to Save Your Life.�

The luncheon price is $25 for members who pre-register by 5 p.m. the day before the meeting and $35 for non-members or members who have not pre-registered.

To register, e-mail info@rbwn.org or call Christine Baker at 845- 398-3098  the day before the luncheon.

Measles is no longer common in the U.S. because of vaccines that prevent the illness. But people in this country can catch the highly contagious disease from others who were infected in other nations.

The CDC this weeks reports on a case involving a 12-year-old Japanese boy who took part in an international youth sporting event in Pennsylvania in August.

The boy didn’t know that he was already infected with measles when he left Japan.
Youngsters from the U.S, as well as from Canada, Chinese Taipei, Curaçao, Japan, Netherlands, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela were also taking part in the event.

After the Japanese boy was diagnosed with measles, health officials began an investigation to find our if he had infected anyone else. They found six people in three states who were infected by the one boy and two people who were infected by people who got the disease from the youngster.

No one died from the disease.

But CDC investigators concluded that “Because international events provide opportunities for measles transmission, organizers of large gatherings attended by international travelers, especially youths, should consider documentation of adequate participant vaccination. To prevent spread of measles, international travelers are encouraged to be fully vaccinated. ”

The state’s Health Department announced this week that it has $10 million in funding available for groups or individuals who can come up with an innovative approach to address the complex health and social barriers for the state’s chronically ill beneficiaries.

The money is available through the state’s Medicaid fund.

Seventy-five percent of the state’s $46 million Medicaid budgets is spent on 20 percent of the beneficiaries – more than 800,000 chronically ill patients. These individuals often have multiple chronic medical conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease and sickle cell anemia. Many also suffer from mental illness or have alcohol and/or drug addictions.

Request for Proposals is available on the Health Department’s Web site: http://www.health.state.ny.us/funding/ or by clicking HERE.

A bidders’ conference will be held on Feb. 26. Proposals are due on April 14.

The omnipresent Google has launched yet another initiative — this time using its search technology to help patients access medical records online.

The world’s most popular search engine entered an agreement with the Cleveland Clinic to test a new program that would allow patients, their doctors and pharmacists to log-on to get medical history, Michael Liedtke writes for the Associated Press.

To read the AP story click HERE.

The ALS Association of New York will hold “Walk to Defeat ALS” on June 29th at 10 am in Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers, event coordinators announced today.

It’s the sixth annual walk aimed at raising money for medical research on ALS. Patients with ALS are also provided with support services through the association.

ALS, also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is one of the most common neuromuscular diseases worldwide claiming 5,000 Americans each year. There are 35,000 Americans alive with ALS at any given time. The disease is fatal and when diagnosed a person typically has about 2 to 5 years to live.