Skip to main content

Chronically Miscalculating with Pandemic Math: USA ≠ Sweden

There has been a lot of talk about using the “Swedish model” to more aggressively “re-open” the US economy.  We have to be realistic about what we can learn from a country as different as Sweden: it’s a bit like comparing a fast-food drive-thru to a smorgasbord.  

 For example, only about 20% of Americans are active in sports compared to about half of Swedes--this has a huge impact on underlying health, but unfortunately we are a long way from closing that gap.

We have known for months--and was anyone really surprised?-- that underlying chronic disease appears to dramatically increase COVID-19 hospitalization & mortality.  Per OECD data, the USA has 2x worse diabetes prevalence than Sweden, and is 1.5x Sweden on overweight/obesity (undoubtedly even worse, when severity of obesity is considered). 

In addition, Sweden has greater public trust in government & therefore more voluntary policy compliance. 

Sweden has also had a 5x higher pandemic death rate than several of its Scandanavian neighbors. So there is a major price to pay with that model--at least short-term.

 The fatal bottom line: If the USA seeks rapid COVID-19 "herd immunity," as Sweden is doing, it would be even deadlier here--because such a high percentage of our children and adults are unhealthy already--and particularly vulnerable to bad coronavirus outcomes.

Let’s face it:  we have put our own people at risk through 40+ years of inaction on unhealthy habits.  Until we do MUCH MORE with prevention, and develop a more active population with healthier nutrition, the USA will continue to be a world leader in chronic disease & health costs. We will remain highly vulnerable to unexpected acute health crises, including novel viral epidemics--and related financial side-effects.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is it a “Miracle Drug”?...if it Costs a Fortune and Creates Lifelong Dependency...&...Saggy Faces!?

[It’s been a while since our last blog post.  A lot has happened since– including some “miracles” ! So we’re going to do two posts in a row…] Normally we should all be happy about miracle drugs... shouldn't we ? Yes, there is lots of upside from taking semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), tirzepatide (Montjaro)--and upcoming new, even-more-miraculous drugs TBD:  losing huge amounts of weight quickly, a much lower risk of diabetes–and probably less heart disease and other chronic conditions as well.  But what if the “miracle” requires:   $200-300/week, with a lifetime cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars…  a drug that you can never quit…because if you stop taking it, you gain back all the weight it helped you lose–not to mention the chronic diseases which the drugs kept at bay… and it leaves your face (and the rest of your skin?) sagging …    (plus, it’s so new at such high dosages– who knows what happens after years of use…? ) No doubt, in spit...
4 comments
Read more

It’s Come To This for Many of Our Teens: Radical Surgery and/or a Lifetime of Pharmaceuticals

The American Academy of Pediatrics just came out in favor of powerful prescription drugs (which must be taken lifelong to avoid weight regain & chronic disease) for adolescents--and potentially for pre-teens (ages 8-11)--with moderate to severe obesity. Bari atric surgery (permanently reengineering kids’ gastrointestinal systems) should also be considered for adolescents with severe obesity .  (The Academy also recommends "nutrition support, physical activity, and behavioral therapy"--but as with so many other areas of US chronic disease management, we can see where default treatments are headed: drugs & surgical procedures.) Such radical treatment recommendations created the usual (and temporary and ineffectual) tsunami of news & social media shock and indignation. The decades-long performative reaction to the increasingly bad news on dangerous levels of early obesity–and now 1 in 3 teens with prediabetes, across ethnicities & income levels–is itself sicken...
Post a Comment
Read more

Both/And: Personal & School & Social Responsibility for Health

Many people are promoting a false dichotomy for who/what to “blame” for decades of pervasive inactivity & unhealthy nutrition--the key preventable factors which have led to the majority of adults developing chronic disease. Some believe that people with preventable chronic diseases made a series of unhealthy choices for decades, for which they need to accept personal responsibility for the consequences. On the other side, a growing number of policymakers focus on the “social determinants of health.”  In other words, there are many things beyond your control, which impact what you eat & drink and how active you are.  This includes factors such as your family, neighborhood, school, employer, transportation, public safety, housing, community layout, etc. etc.  It’s those external social factors which determine your health destiny.   Actually, the personal and social are inextricably connected--not opposite ends of the spectrum.  Let’s consider the role...
Post a Comment
Read more