Epi News Briefs 02/16/04

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Editor's Quote of the Week (02/16/04) “Public health has one underlying philosophy, and one underlying methodology...the underlying philosophy is social justice, and the methodology is using data to improve decisions.” New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden as quoted in a profile about the commissioner in the NY Times on February 14, 2004. (See related story below)

Health Impact of Smoking Versus Obesity

The negative health effects of smoking are legendary among epidemiologists. But now with all of the publicity about the adverse health consequences of obesity, one can wonder about which risk factor is more dangerous--smoking or being overweight. According to an item in the NY Times, smoking accounts for more than 440,000 deaths a year in the US compared to 280,000 to 325,000 from obesity. The $75 billion cost of treating the complications from obesity, however, is higher.

 

Letter Writers Argue About The Role of Driver Behavior Versus Vehicle Factors in Traffic Safety

Two Hopkins lawyers Jon Vernick and Stephen Teret state in this month’s AJPH that “the reduction in the risk of fatal motor vehicle crash is one of the major success stories of public health and injury prevention. From 1966 to 2001, the fatality rate per million vehicle miles traveled has declined by more than 70%.” They attribute this progress to a combined strategy focusing on both vehicle factors and driver behavior. Not everyone agrees. According to Leonard Evans of Science Serving Society, the performance of the US from 1966 to 2001 is “a public health disaster of almost incomprehensible magnitude...if our rate had declined in step with Britain’s, more than 300,000 fewer Americans would have died between 1966 and 2001.” Evans acknowledges that vehicle factors play a role in traffic safety but says that driver behavior is a much more important cause that requires more serious attention.

 

Times Profiles Activist Health Commissioner

What epidemiologist would not like to be described as “an obsessive consumer of data.” That’s one way the NY Times described Thomas Frieden in its February 14 profile of the former Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer and TB specialist who is now the Health Commissioner in New York City. Apparently, Frieden is taking an activist view of his responsibilities and has had a major role to play in creating the law that bans smoking citywide in New York, and in revamping the city’s restaurant inspections to focus more on those activities which actually make people sick. His pet cause is ending tobacco use. According to Frieden, “Seven out of 10 people want to quit. What we know is that the health care system doesn’t do as good a job as it could in helping them.” Speaking of tobacco control, see the following story.

 

National Action Plan For Tobacco Cessation Summarized In AJPH

The National Action Plan for Tobacco Cessation, a new report by the subcommittee on Cessation of the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health, has been submitted to Secretary Thompson for consideration, according to a report in the AJPH. According to its authors, unless the prevalence of tobacco use is reduced dramatically, about 25 million Americans, 1 out of 2 current smokers in the US will die prematurely of a disease caused by their dependence on tobacco, shortening lives by an average of 13 to 14 years. Says the article, approximately 1150 individuals die prematurely because of tobacco use each day in America. Six major recommendations for federal initiatives are:
1. Establish a federally funded National Tobacco Quitline network by FY2005 that will provide universal access to evidence based counseling and medications for cessation.
2. Launch an ongoing, extensive, paid media campaign by FY2005 to help Americans quit using tobacco.
3. Include evidence based counseling and medications for tobacco cessation in benefits provided to all federal beneficiaries and in all federally funded health care programs by FY2005
4. Invest in a new, broad and balanced research agenda by FY2005.
5. Invest in training and education by FY2005 to ensure that all clinicians in the US have the knowledge, skills, and support systems necessary to help their patients quit tobacco use.
6. Establish a Smokers Health Fund by FY2005 by increasing the federal excise tax on cigarettes by $2.00 per pack with a similar increase in the excise tax on other tobacco products.

 

Headlines From the February Issue of The Epidemiology Monitor

Epidemiology Dropped As A Priority In New European Five Year Research Program

New Jersey Team That Gave Middle Schoolers “Detectives In The Classroom” Will Now Create “Exploring Drug Abuse Through The Science of Epidemiology” For High Schoolers.

Award Winning Curricula Now Available On The Internet

Report Says Daubert Decision Has Had A Negative Impact In Courtrooms Which May Spillover To Peer Review In Federal Agencies