Reported by the Associated Press
A Dallas woman has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the neglect-related death of her diabetic 9-year-old daughter.
A judge in Dallas on Monday sentenced 31-year-old Georgia Jones. Jones pleaded guilty to felony injury to a child in the May 2008 death of Chastity Butler. The death was ruled natural due to diabetic complications.
The Dallas Morning News reports the girl died on her mother's bed next to a bag of candy and a half-eaten cupcake. The family was celebrating a relative's birthday at the time of the death.
Investigators say Chastity's diabetes was not properly monitored and that caused the girl to be constantly sick. Police say the mother did not show up for a diabetes-care class after her daughter was diagnosed.
Read more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Dallas-mom-gets-16-years-for-daughter-s-4366874.php#ixzz2O0zlvvw3
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Childhood Depression Linked To Teenage Smoking, Obesity
Supports my personal theory that in many cases obesity and smoking are more alike
because of the depression link.
Childhood Depression Linked To Teenage Smoking, Obesity
March 16, 2013
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online
Children who are suffering from depression have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease later on in life, according to new research presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, in Miami, Florida on Friday.
The study, which was prepared by scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Pittsburg, reports teenagers who suffered clinical depression when they were children were more likely than other people their age to smoke cigarettes, suffer from obesity, or lead sedentary lives.
Furthermore, that likelihood was present even if the teens had overcome their depression. The findings suggested depression, even at a young age, could increase the risk that heart problems will eventually surface, they added.
“Part of the reason this is so worrisome is that a number of recent studies have shown that when adolescents have these cardiac risk factors, they’re much more likely to develop heart disease as adults and even to have a shorter lifespan,” first author Robert M. Carney, PhD, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University, explained.
“Active smokers as adolescents are twice as likely to die by the age of 55 than nonsmokers, and we see similar risks with obesity, so finding this link between childhood depression and these risk factors suggests that we need to very closely monitor young people who have been depressed,” Carney added in a statement.
While medical experts have long known adults suffering from depression were more likely to have a heart attack or related cardiac event, it has not yet been established when other risk factors for these ailments – including smoking, obesity and sedentary lifestyle – combine with depression to increase the risk for heart problems.
“We know that depression in adults is associated with heart disease and a higher risk of dying from a heart attack or having serious complications,” Carney says. “What we didn’t know is at what stage of life we would begin to see evidence of this association between depression and these cardiac risk factors.”
The Washington University professor and his colleagues looked at children who had taken part in a 2004 study of the genetics of depression. The study investigators surveyed 201 children with a history of clinical depression and 195 siblings with no such history, as well as 161 unrelated age- and gender-matched children with no history of depression. The average age of the participants was nine at the time of the study.
Seven years later, the researchers surveyed the subjects once again, focusing specifically on the rates of smoking, obesity and physical activity in all three groups. According to Carney, 22 percent of the depressed youngsters were obese by age 16 versus just 17 percent for their siblings and just 11 percent in the unrelated children. He said he and his colleagues discovered similar patterns in the other categories as well.
“A third of those who were depressed as children had become daily smokers, compared to 13 percent of their nondepressed siblings and only 2.5 percent of the control group,” he said. Likewise, the teens who had struggled with depression were also the least physically active, followed by their siblings.
The members of the third, control group were the most active, they discovered.
Further analysis and the use of statistical methods eliminated other possible causes for the increased smoking and obesity rates, strengthening their belief depression was the cause of the phenomenon.
Depressed children were 2.5 times more likely than their siblings to smoke, and heart disease risk factors were also more common in children who had been depressed – whether or not they still suffered from the symptoms at an advanced age.
“Depression seems to come first,” Carney said. “It’s playing an important, if not a causal, role. There may be some related genetic influences that give rise to both depression and to heart disease, or at least to these types of cardiac risk behaviors, but more study will be required before we can draw any firm conclusions about that.”
Children who are suffering from depression have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease later on in life, according to new research presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, in Miami, Florida on Friday.
The study, which was prepared by scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Pittsburg, reports teenagers who suffered clinical depression when they were children were more likely than other people their age to smoke cigarettes, suffer from obesity, or lead sedentary lives.
Furthermore, that likelihood was present even if the teens had overcome their depression. The findings suggested depression, even at a young age, could increase the risk that heart problems will eventually surface, they added.
“Part of the reason this is so worrisome is that a number of recent studies have shown that when adolescents have these cardiac risk factors, they’re much more likely to develop heart disease as adults and even to have a shorter lifespan,” first author Robert M. Carney, PhD, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University, explained.
“Active smokers as adolescents are twice as likely to die by the age of 55 than nonsmokers, and we see similar risks with obesity, so finding this link between childhood depression and these risk factors suggests that we need to very closely monitor young people who have been depressed,” Carney added in a statement.
While medical experts have long known adults suffering from depression were more likely to have a heart attack or related cardiac event, it has not yet been established when other risk factors for these ailments – including smoking, obesity and sedentary lifestyle – combine with depression to increase the risk for heart problems.
“We know that depression in adults is associated with heart disease and a higher risk of dying from a heart attack or having serious complications,” Carney says. “What we didn’t know is at what stage of life we would begin to see evidence of this association between depression and these cardiac risk factors.”
The Washington University professor and his colleagues looked at children who had taken part in a 2004 study of the genetics of depression. The study investigators surveyed 201 children with a history of clinical depression and 195 siblings with no such history, as well as 161 unrelated age- and gender-matched children with no history of depression. The average age of the participants was nine at the time of the study.
Seven years later, the researchers surveyed the subjects once again, focusing specifically on the rates of smoking, obesity and physical activity in all three groups. According to Carney, 22 percent of the depressed youngsters were obese by age 16 versus just 17 percent for their siblings and just 11 percent in the unrelated children. He said he and his colleagues discovered similar patterns in the other categories as well.
“A third of those who were depressed as children had become daily smokers, compared to 13 percent of their nondepressed siblings and only 2.5 percent of the control group,” he said. Likewise, the teens who had struggled with depression were also the least physically active, followed by their siblings.
The members of the third, control group were the most active, they discovered.
Further analysis and the use of statistical methods eliminated other possible causes for the increased smoking and obesity rates, strengthening their belief depression was the cause of the phenomenon.
Depressed children were 2.5 times more likely than their siblings to smoke, and heart disease risk factors were also more common in children who had been depressed – whether or not they still suffered from the symptoms at an advanced age.
“Depression seems to come first,” Carney said. “It’s playing an important, if not a causal, role. There may be some related genetic influences that give rise to both depression and to heart disease, or at least to these types of cardiac risk behaviors, but more study will be required before we can draw any firm conclusions about that.”
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Incentives/Penalties with Medical Insurance for Obesity
So recent data was presented at ACC demonstrating monetary incentives work well to get people to lose weight. In addition, the data demonstrated monetary penalties worked even better. So what does this mean for the future of health insurance in the U.S.? Life and disability insurance have underwriters that take into account BMI, smoking, and other diseases when writing a policy and determining a premium if they decide to issue the policy. However, medical insurance, at least commercial (not self-insured employer plans) have community rates that do not take into account BMI, smoking, excessive alcohol or illicit drug use. And the Americans with Disabilities Act recognizes obesity and alcohol addiction as disabilities and employers are not to discriminate. I am interested in where our National Healthcare Plan will take us over the next few years and wonder whether more litigation will be ahead of us if penalties are put in place.
Cleveland Clinic has a policy not to hire smokers - even if they do not smoke at work. Smoking is highly correlated with mental illness, so one could say that it is discrimination, but the policy stands. Actually overeating/obesity is also correlated with mental illness. If someone consumes too much alcohol off-hours it will impact their job performance - or even if they just stay up all night having sex or playing Words with Friends :). Smoking, drinking, overeating, and not exercising are all modifiable risk factors that impact a person's health. It is apples to apples if looking at absenteeism, negative impact on health, and loss of productivity.
However our country voted for this, so if we accept government issued healthcare, we will be required to play by the rules set forth in the legislation. If the government is accepting the risk and requiring health insurers to accept the risk without pre-existing conditions, it is reasonable to think that they should have the right to make sure the insured (general public) are doing everything they can to prevent illness so we can reduce costs and provide coverage for everyone.
And on a final note, what's good for one should be good for all. If small businesses and individuals are required to follow the rules set forth in ObamaCare, then government workers, unions, and large employers should be as well - the "get out of jail free cards" being issued to appease groups that voted for our president and for the congress and senate that signed the bill are atrocious. Healthcare reform is needed. But our corrupt government practices that exempt corporations, unions, and those who passed the healthcare reform legislation are indefensible.
Cleveland Clinic has a policy not to hire smokers - even if they do not smoke at work. Smoking is highly correlated with mental illness, so one could say that it is discrimination, but the policy stands. Actually overeating/obesity is also correlated with mental illness. If someone consumes too much alcohol off-hours it will impact their job performance - or even if they just stay up all night having sex or playing Words with Friends :). Smoking, drinking, overeating, and not exercising are all modifiable risk factors that impact a person's health. It is apples to apples if looking at absenteeism, negative impact on health, and loss of productivity.
However our country voted for this, so if we accept government issued healthcare, we will be required to play by the rules set forth in the legislation. If the government is accepting the risk and requiring health insurers to accept the risk without pre-existing conditions, it is reasonable to think that they should have the right to make sure the insured (general public) are doing everything they can to prevent illness so we can reduce costs and provide coverage for everyone.
And on a final note, what's good for one should be good for all. If small businesses and individuals are required to follow the rules set forth in ObamaCare, then government workers, unions, and large employers should be as well - the "get out of jail free cards" being issued to appease groups that voted for our president and for the congress and senate that signed the bill are atrocious. Healthcare reform is needed. But our corrupt government practices that exempt corporations, unions, and those who passed the healthcare reform legislation are indefensible.
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