Prevention in practice for healthy living

Five simple steps could save the lives of over 100,000 people in this country every year. This is the conclusion of a recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The investigation assessed which preventive services have the greatest impact on health and length of life. Prevention includes all the measures health providers use to keep their patients healthy, such as vaccinations, cancer screening tests, and counseling. As a primary care doctor, my practice has a major focus on preventive medicine. But this new report reveals doctors are falling far short of providing optimum preventive care for their patients. The five simple steps are all standard, established procedures that, sadly, are underutilized in our healthcare system.

While this study is directed toward health care providers and health care policy makers, these critical findings should also be delivered directly to the general public. Over the past decade, major shifts have occurred in people’s motivation favoring healthy living, and many Americans have come to value opportunities to advocate for their own health and wellbeing. Given the challenges in our healthcare system with various obstacles for preventive care, such as high deductibles for preventive services or lack of insurance coverage, empowering individuals (along with their doctors), will have the greatest impact in saving lives. The choices we make about the way we live shape the quality of the life we lead. Choosing to make these steps a priority can help bring remarkable quality to our lives.

So what are these five easy steps?

1. Take daily aspirin to help prevent heart disease. An impressive 45,000 lives would be saved annually if we increased to 90 percent the number of people who use aspirin daily to help prevent heart disease. Currently, fewer than half of American adults who would benefit from taking daily aspirin preventively actually do so.

2. Stop smoking. An estimated 42,000 lives would be saved annually if we increased to 90 percent the number of smokers who receive smoking cessation support through tools, such as counseling or medication, from their health provider. Currently, only 28 percent of smokers receive advice from their physician on how to quitting smoking.

3. Colon cancer screening. Fewer than half of Americans age 50 and older receives regular screening tests for colon cancer. Increasing the amount of people screened to 90 percent would translate to 14,000 additional lives saved.
   
   
4. Get your flu shot. Too few adults over age 50 receive their annual influenza vaccination. Study results showed only 37 percent of people in this age group get this crucial immunization. Increasing this number to 90 percent would save 12,000 lives each year.
   
   
5. Stay up-to-date with your breast cancer screening. Barely 67 percent of women over age 40 received recommended breast cancer screening tests during the past two years. By raising the number of screened women to 90 percent, 4,000 lives would be saved each year.

Ben Franklin was right in his remark “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. So why have we been neglecting to make these simple, healthy choices? Why aren’t more people getting flu vaccines, quitting smoking, or getting cancer screening tests? In part, it may be that we only consider seeing our doctor when we are sick, rather than before we get sick. Prevention may be a new concept for some, but it should be the cornerstone of how we think about healthy living. Each of us has the power to make a profound difference in the direction of our own health. Doctors have heard the appeal to amend their practices and renew their commitment to prevention. They understand their responsibility for the shortfalls in use of preventive services and the resulting negative impact on lives. While policymakers work to remove the financial restraints and access dilemmas inherent in our healthcare system, each of us can help close the gaps in the use of these five preventive services by choosing to put prevention into practice for ourselves.

Disclaimer: The information provided on this blog is to be used for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, psychological or professional advice. The opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of the contributor, and are not of Ode Magazine.