As America’s population ages and questions over Social Security’s financial health persist, the issue of retirement age remains a subject of public policy debate. The issue also has a personal health dimension. It has long been believed, but unproven, that early retirement can be detrimental to one’s cognitive function, whereas a longer working life has been thought to promote healthy brain function.
Energy drinks, once aimed exclusively at athletes, have become a significant force in the worldwide beverage market. They come in a dizzying variety of colors, often feature exotic ingredients — guarana, ginseng, and ginkgo biloba, to name just a few — and aren’t shy when it comes to health claims. Marketers’ efforts to rebrand such drinks as “nutrition beverages” have continued to spur sales growth, though this comes at a time when the content of the drinks is coming under increased scrutiny.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, nine million cribs have been recalled since September 2007 because of safety issues. While many studies have been conducted on the rate of infant mortalities which occurred in cribs, playpens and bassinets, until recently little was known about the non-fatal injuries.
In March 2011 a series of cascading disasters hit the northeast coast of Japan — earthquake and tsunami, then a nuclear emergency. While the first two created widespread devastation and untold suffering, the third is likely to have the longest-felt effects. After the debris has been removed, towns rebuilt and the economy stabilized, evidence from Chernobyl indicates that health concerns will persist for nearby residents for decades to come.
On April 26, 1986, an explosion in reactor four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the former Ukrainian SSR caused what was then the worst nuclear power-related accident in history. On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami seriously damaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Okumu, Japan. In both cases, radiation escaped into the environment, prompting widespread public health concerns.
The costs of health care directly related to smoking in the United States are estimated to be in the range of $97 billion. This figure typically takes into account treatment for ailments such as lung cancer and emphysema, with the combined costs representing more than 10% of all U.S. medical expenses. New research is adding to this total estimated health cost by also assessing secondary effects, such as how smoking affects recovery time from other medical procedures.
In 2002 the Institute of Medicine estimated that 4.3% of men with a child under 18 years old had suffered a paternity-related depressive disorder, while other studies have placed the probability of such depression within the first year of a child’s life as high as 10.4%.
The approval system for medical devices by the Food and Drug Administration has two tracks: Pre-Market Approval (PMA), which involves clinical trials and inspections; or, alternatively, the fast-track 510(k) approval, which only requires a device to be “substantially equivalent” to an existing one. Although the 510(k) process has come under criticism, the precise extent of the risks involved with “fast-tracking” medical device approval has not been studied comprehensively.
