Survival strategies

Step It Up!

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

Previous studies have been done on step counts and mortality. However, they were conducted primarily with older adults or among people with debilitating chronic conditions. This study tracked a representative sample of U.S. adults aged 40 and over; approximately 4,800 participants wore accelerometers for up to seven days between 2003 and 2006. The participants were then followed for mortality through 2015 via the National Death Index. The researchers calculated associations between mortality and step number and intensity after adjustment for demographic and behavioral risk factors, body mass index, and health status at the start of the study.

They found that, compared with taking 4,000 steps per day, a number considered to be low for adults, taking 8,000 steps per day was associated with a 51% lower risk for all-cause mortality (or death from all causes). Taking 12,000 steps per day was associated with a 65% lower risk compared with taking 4,000 steps. In contrast, the authors saw no association between step intensity and risk of death after accounting for the total number of steps taken per day.

Higher daily step count linked with lower all-cause mortality

I am so screwed.

Gut Check! Two Mediterranean Diet Studies

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In conclusion, these two outstanding studies support the fact that (1) it is not the quantity of calories per se that matters but the quality of the diet and (2) even in subjects of advanced age, adherence to a MedDiet is rapidly associated with different metabolic effects and reduced disease risk factors.

Mediterranean diet, gut microbiota and health: when age and calories do not add up!

 

This is Not About YOU

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BLOG 2020 Covie

But I’m Not Even Sick!

If you’re experiencing mild symptoms that feel like a typical common cold, or you don’t even have symptoms at all, it’s probably hard to understand the importance of staying home. We understand and want to stress that this is not about YOU.

It is about your grandparents.

It is about your aunt with high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes.

It is about the volunteers in the nursery at your place of worship.

It is about the hourly workers still making your coffee.

It is about the healthcare workers who continue to put themselves in harm’s way.

We are asking all of our Oklahomans to be good neighbors.

  • Limit your time out and about in the community to just the essentials.
  • Observe social distancing guidelines. If you are waiting in line to pick up necessities at the grocery store, or need to pay for gas at the gas station, keep your distance from the next person in line, or ask the person behind you to take a few steps back if you need to.
  • Practice good personal hygiene. Any time you interact with members outside of your own household, remember to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer when you return home.
  • Pay attention to your surroundings. Are you in a crowded room with elderly? Is it hard to walk in between people to get to the counter? If you or someone you love is at higher risk, remove yourself from that situation.

While data continues to become available to help medical experts understand how COVID-19 is being spread, we know our best weapon is personal responsibility. Let’s make future generations proud of how we worked together to mitigate a public health crisis. Let’s serve as leaders in responding with empathy, compassion and respect for our neighbors.

Severe Outcomes Among Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) — United States, February 12–March 16, 2020

/ SupremeCmdr / 22 Comments

This is an excerpt from the latest CDC report cited above and below.

OlRedHair:  Yes, our younger generations need to take this situation very seriously.

mm6912e2-F2

Severe Outcomes Among Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) — United States, February 12–March 16, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 18 March 2020. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6912e2external icon.

Among 508 (12%) patients known to have been hospitalized, 9% were aged ≥85 years, 26% were aged 65–84 years, 17% were aged 55–64 years, 18% were 45–54 years, and 20% were aged 20–44 years. Less than 1% of hospitalizations were among persons aged ≤19 years (Figure 2). The percentage of persons hospitalized increased with age, from 2%–3% among persons aged ≤9 years, to ≥31% among adults aged ≥85 years. (Table).

Among 121 patients known to have been admitted to an ICU, 7% of cases were reported among adults ≥85 years, 46% among adults aged 65–84 years, 36% among adults aged 45–64 years, and 12% among adults aged 20–44 years (Figure 2). No ICU admissions were reported among persons aged ≤19 years. Percentages of ICU admissions were lowest among adults aged 20–44 years (2%–4%) and highest among adults aged 75–84 years (11%–31%) (Table).

Among 44 cases with known outcome, 15 (34%) deaths were reported among adults aged ≥85 years, 20 (46%) among adults aged 65–84 years, and nine (20%) among adults aged 20–64 years. Case-fatality percentages increased with increasing age, from no deaths reported among persons aged ≤19 years to highest percentages (10%–27%) among adults aged ≥85 years (Table) (Figure 2).

 

COVID-19 – Oklahoma 03.19.20

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

I’ve spent most of my life learning about what kills people.  Hey, it’s a job and I love it.

The numbers in Oklahoma are blessedly small.  Too small for statistical significance but there are some interesting aspects to these numbers.  The 2 out of state positives are professional basketball players.  We shouldn’t expect a huge increase from out of state since Oklahoma is not exactly a vacation tourist type destination and no one is traveling much nowadays.   The first positives were in Tulsa county.  That number hasn’t really moved much but Oklahoma county numbers have,  a clear indicator of community spread.

The most disturbing numbers are the positives ages 18-64.  This is not Wuhan.  This is not Italy.  This is not Iran.  This is not Spain.  This is Oklahoma.

Stay safe and act accordingly to your specific locale.

COVID-19 Oklahoma Test Results
Positive (In-State) 29
Positive (Out-of-State) 2
Negative 378
PUIs Pending Results 110

COVID-19 Cases by County
County COVID-19 Cases by County*
Canadian 2
Cleveland 4
Jackson 1
Kay 2
Oklahoma 14
Payne 1
Tulsa 4
Pawnee 1
Total 29

COVID-19 Cases by Age Grouping
Age Group, Years COVID-19 Cases*
00-04 1
05-17 0
18-49 13
50-64 10
65+ 5
Total 29
Age Range 0-75 yrs

COVID-19 Cases by Gender
COVID-19 Cases by Gender
Female 13
Male 16
Total 29

Data Source: Acute Disease Service, Oklahoma State Department of Health.
*As of 2020-03-18 at 07:00 AM.

Best Practices For Social Distancing To Mitigate COVID-19 — The Skeptical Cardiologist

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To flatten the curve and mitigate the impact of coronavirus we should be practicing social distancing. It is not obvious to most how this should be accomplished but there is a great article on this at The New Yorker which discusses an information sheet on the topic provided by Dr. Asaf Bitton, The New Yorker…

via Best Practices For Social Distancing To Mitigate COVID-19 — The Skeptical Cardiologist

Thank you Anthony C. Pearson, MD, FACC.

Undetected cases drive virus spread in the community — Science Chronicle

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Eighty-six percent of people in China who were infected with novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) were not tested in the two week period before travel restrictions came into force on January 23 in Wuhan and other cities. And these undetected cases contributed to the majority of virus spread in the community, says a paper published in the journal Science. The paper says that undetected cases can expose a large population to the virus than would otherwise occur. The study found undetected cases were the source of infection for 79% of documented cases.

via Coronavirus: Undetected cases drive virus spread in the community — Science Chronicle

And this is precisely why you must stay at home as much as possible in the near term future.  Limit your movements, avoid crowds, use common sense.

COVID-19 – Your Daily Dose 03.11.20

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I’ve been reading a lot of COVID-19 news articles.  Here are a few of my favs.

In South Korea, public health officials screened about 100,000 people and detected over 7,300 cases. So far, the death toll is 50, which translates to a case-fatality rate of 0.7 percent. That’s still seven times worse than seasonal flu, but it’s far lower than the initial reports from China.

Most Important Coronavirus Question

 

Impact of the epidemic in the U.S.

Now that new COVID-19 cases are being detected in the U.S. every day, it is too late to stop the initial wave of infections. The epidemic is likely to spread across the U.S. The virus appears to be about as contagious as influenza. But this comparison is difficult to make since we have no immunity to the new coronavirus.

How big will the coronavirus pandemic be? An epidemiologist answers.

 

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, is among those arguing hospitals need to change course.  “It’s just not sustainable to think that every time a health care worker is exposed they have to be quarantined for 14 days. We’d run out of health care workers,” Nuzzo said.

Self-quarantines will lead to health worker shortagesSelf-quarantines will lead to health worker shortages