CDC report shows heavy stroke burden in South

[hadrons]

Source: Yahoo!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070517/us_nm/sgstroke_usa_dc


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Strokes are most common in Mississippi and other Southern states and least in Connecticut, according to a report providing the first U.S. state-by-state accounting of the third-leading cause of American deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, issued on Thursday, also showed that blacks are nearly twice as likely as whites to suffer a stroke, and better educated people are far less likely to have one.

The findings were based on a survey of more than 350,000 Americans to estimate the percentage of people in all 50 states over age 18 who have had a non-fatal stroke. Nationwide, the figure was 2.6 percent, an estimated 5.8 million people. Similar trends have been found in studies of stroke mortality.

The prevalence of stroke ranged from 1.5 percent in Connecticut to 4.3 percent in Mississippi, the report found.

"It's clear that the South has the highest prevalence of stroke," CDC epidemiologist Jonathan Neyer, the report's lead author, said in a telephone interview.

Neyer said states with the highest prevalence tended to have people with more major risk factors for stroke, including obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol levels and diabetes.

Regional differences also are affected by poverty, diet, exercise, and access to health care, the report said.
....

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070517/us_nm/sgstroke_usa_dc

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Wow, the region of the country that can use universal health coverage is the one that supports the party most opposed to it

[kestrel91316]

1. Fried chicken, fried pork rinds, fried green tomatoes.......

fried candy bars.........there comes a time when the piper must be paid........

(I say this as a fan of those fried pork rinds)

[Lurking Dem]

2. Biscuits and gravy.

Don't forget those! And fried pickles. Yep, we fry those too!

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Catfish, hush puppies ...

Oh man, I could use some good hush puppies right now. :)

[kestrel91316]

7. Yum. Biscuits and gravy!

[cliss]

9. Yikes, Darling you might want to

give up on those things.

~not so good for ya~

[Honeycombe8]

13. Oh, stop stop! I can't take it anymore! Someone send me some fried chicken!

Quick!

I grew up in the deep south. I am not surprised by this study. I grew up on fried chicken w/milk gravy (my favorite!), fried catfish with hush puppies, gumbo, cobblers, fried potatoes....oh, man oh man oh man...you really understand the expression "finger lickin' good."

But....I got wise, developed an interest in nutrition and weight control, and changed my eating habits years ago. Sigh. But I miss 'em. I still eat some of these sometime, but not often.

At some point you have to make a choice...health, or not.

[Jamastiene]

17. Fried fish, french fried potatoes, and the greasiest

best tasting chili burgers too. We do know how to eat great tasting food, even if so much frying is bad for us.

[Kolesar]

3. Fine particulates were recently linked to stroke. The South has the dirtiest air...

...due to coal fired electricity generation. The solution is more efficient appliances & products, personal conservation, and an eventual transition to wind power or such.

[Alexander]

4. Once again, Connecticut shows how far ahead it is...

compared to most of the rest of the country. :-)

[Straight Shooter]

6. Blacks are more likely to have high blood pressure.

I don't blame everything on a person's diet. Often it's genetics and lack of available health care.

[prole_for_peace]

8. i guess i will be moving to connecticut from texas.

then i will be safe..... :7

[annabanana]

16. (not from Lieberman). . . . . .n/t

[Odin2005]

10. Methinks they need to quit deep-fat frying everying...

[Lurking Dem]

11. Hard to get rid of regional history like that.

From low country boil to the various styles of bbq it is more than just fried food though. But food was fried for a reason and the handed down recipes aren't going anywhere in a hurry.

[Ilsa]

12. My experience down here in the south is that fiber isn't a priority.

I'm in Texas, and if you can bread it before frying it, so much the better. Glad I don't eat meat any more.

[SharonAnn]

14. Don't forget the gravy! Bread it, fry it, and put gravy on it.

[Dogmudgeon]

15. It's also a more violent culture

Crime is just plain more common in the South. Capital punishment is a form of entertainment; the corporal punishment of children is a sacrament. For all the talk of Jesus, the Golden Rule is observed more in the breech than in practice.

Don't get me wrong -- I do not hate Southerners. A quarter of my family is from the South. And I really hate "bubba" jokes, as well as the lame-ass assertion that all Southern whites are Klanspersons.

My point is simply that there is still a lot of work to be done in the South. The "Cultural Revolution" passed our Southern cousins by. The time has come to spread the love, if you will.

Incidentally, almost all the REST of the discussion has been on food. It underscores what I've often said -- Food Is The New Sex. A lot of this probably comes from the new moral calculus that obesity=immorality. But from a scientific point of view, if we overlook non-food medical issues, we will be getting nowhere.

--p!

[cwydro]

25. The South is more violent???

Um, NY, Detroit, Chicago, DC, LA. Got any stats to back that up? Links?

[Dogmudgeon]

27. It's not exactly a secret

Southerners have borne the brunt of regressive politics for over three centuries. Part of that legacy is increased violence, both officially and culturally.

If it's just your local pride that is piqued, I can't help that. But the literature about regional differences in crime is large, well-tested, and spans decades. It is a testament to that multi-century pattern of regressive politics.

Crime in the United States at Wikipedia.

Introduction to Criminal Justice, Siegel and Senna (fig 2.5)

Criminology: theories, patterns and typologies, Larry J. Siegel (pp. 347, "Regional Values")

Excessive Violent Crime in the South, Kathy Gerber

Urban Politics, Crime Rates, And Police Strength, Thomas Dain Stucky (pp. 87-88)

A general search keyed to "Southern Crime Rate" or similar will uncover hundreds of serious articles, books, and legal papers on the subject.

We liberals have tended to overlook the South. We should correct that lapse in our attention.

--p!

[cwydro]

28. Well yeah...

after Maw and Paw finished up with whuppin' us kids, Paw usta take us down ta the town square and we allays gots to watch us a hangin'! Yeah buddy, them was the days! Hoo boy! 'Course then we went ta the preachin' after.:rofl:

[blueworld]

18. Regional differences are "also" affected by....???

The rich thrive, the poor eat hog jowls...this is news from the CDC?

Poverty is rampant in the South, unemployment is triple the national average in some areas even here in VA. Flour, fat, starches & soda are a lot cheaper than fruits & vegetables. Health care is spread waaay out & controlled frequently by medical co-ops who own the hospitals & doctor's offices.

Next week's soap box: regional coal, agricultural and factory farming environmental gifts to Dixie. :sarcasm:

[donsu]

19. don't forget alcohol

nt

[brentspeak]

21. I don't think alcohol abuse is more prevalent in the south than anywere else in the U.S.

Lots of people attending AA meetings in New Jersey, for instance.

[hedgehog]

20. I'd like to see more information on genetic factors.

As noted above, blacks do seem to have more problems with high blood pressure. Are southern whites also from a limited gene pool? Seriously, all cousin jokes aside, if most southern whites are still from one or two areas of the British Isles, there may be genetic factors involved. My daughter commented yesterday that her friends are all some combination Irish/German/Polish/Italian. We may be looking at hybrid vigor.

[brentspeak]

22. There are some pockets in the south where those of Scotch-Irish heritage

are prevalent. But there's also quite a bit of people in New England who are also descended from the British Isles.

[hedgehog]

23. There are the pockets of the Scotch -Irish, but I believe that the whites who

settled the low lands in the South came from specific areas of England as well. In the North-east, the English heritage was diluted by waves of immigrants. Until very recently, I don't think there was substantial outside influence in the South.

[CTLawGuy]

24. the interesting thing is

CT, and New England in general, has comparatively few fast food restaurants as compared to the rest of the country. For example, we don't have: White Castle, Sonic, In-N-out burger, steak and shake, Hardees, chick-fil-a, Jack in the Box.

And we have very few: Arby's, Long John Silvers (I've only seen one in the entire state), Dairy Queen.

[cosmicdot]

26. Health and Poverty in the US

some interesting thoughts on the state of our health care in the US

~snip~

"To summarize at this point. Poverty is bad for your health. Relative
poverty, living in a large gap society, is the worst part of poverty.
Poverty is not a certain amount of goods, but a form of invidious
comparison between those who have more and those who have less. If the
gap between the rich and poor is smaller, then the comparisons we make
are milder. When the playing field is more level, it is easier to
play. This is what justice is all about, avoiding having one part of
society bearing all the burden but reaping none of the benefits."

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=4647

[KansDem]

29. Reminds me of this oldie but goodie...

Dear Red States

Excerpt...
With the Blue states in hand,we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple & lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's qulaity wines (you can serve French wines at State dinners) 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all livng redwoods, sequoia's & condors, all the Ivy & Seven Sister Schools, plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech & MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (& their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes,nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptist, virtually 100 percent of all televangelist, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson & the University of Georgia.

DU