World Health Organization (WHO) has defined a child is as “a person less than 19 years of age unless there is a separate definition as per the national law”. Adolescent period refers to the age group of 10 to 19 years.5 The prevalence of obesity is mounting at an alarming rate in this Century. It is a risk factor which is highly preventable and primordial prevention is the key to bring down the rates of adolescent obesity. In the year 2016, around 340 million children were noted to be overweight across the world. The preva-ence of obesity in childhood has risen four-fold since 1980s. WHO has set cut off values for identifying overweight and obesity for children aged 5-19 years taking into consideration the age and sex of children as body weight varies accordingly.6, [National Journal of Community Health 1.2022]

Download article here> 

###

CHICAGO—The Institute of Medicine of Chicago  2022 Healthcare Awards are open for nominations. The seven award categories are open to all through May 2-4, 2022. There is no fee to submit an entry. Awards will be presented at the 2022 Annual Meeting on June 30, 2022. The awards presentation will be held at VenueSix 10 in Chicago, Illinois. Consider honoring a colleague for their outstanding efforts by nominating them for an award. 

Questions? Contact us by sending an email to iomcstaff@iomc.org. Please state 2022 Healthcare Awards in the Subject line. 

Download News Release here>

Visit the webpage here> 

###

A bill recently passed by the House and under consideration in the Senate caps insulin payments at $35 a month for individuals with Medicare or private health insurance. The legislation speaks directly to the crisis in affordability for a life-saving medicine, but in the long term it is just shuffling the deck rather than changing the game of insulin costs. [MedPage Today 4.19.2022]

Like a lot of high stakes games, this one takes place in back rooms, and certainly out of view of patients and doctors. Many believe drug manufacturers run the game because it involves steadily rising list prices, which they set. 

The Crisis

We are in the midst of a diabetes epidemic. In Medicare alone, about one-third of beneficiaries had diabetes in 2017, up from 18% in 2000. Beneficiaries' mean out-of-pocket spending on insulin has nearly doubled over the last decade. In a recent study, we found that out-of-pocket spending increased considerably in the coverage gap for most users with Part D coverage, which was associated with a substantial reduction in adherence.

###

Around 19,000 Illinoisians could lose health insurance coverage next year, following the expiration of temporary enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies and the end of Medicaid’s continuous enrollment policy, according to a recent report from the Urban Institute. [Health News Illinois 4.18.2022]
 
The American Rescue Plan Act, enacted in April of last year, boosted premium tax credits and extended eligibility to those making more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Those changes are set to expire next year. 
 
If Congress doesn’t act, 3.1 million more people could become uninsured across the nation, with those enrolled through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces facing hundreds of dollars more per person on premiums, per the report. 
 
Nationwide, the uninsured rate would rise to 10.4 percent. In Illinois, it would rise to 9.2 percent, with about 996,000 people without insurance.
 
Black people, young adults, and people with incomes between 138 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level will likely experience the biggest coverage losses. 
 
Extending the subsidies will likely increase the federal deficit by $305 billion over 10 years, the report noted. 
 
The federal public health emergency is set to end this summer, along with Medicaid’s continuous enrollment policy. The report’s authors estimate that Medicaid enrollment will fall by 14 million next year nationwide.
 
Extending the subsidies could mean more leaving Medicaid will be eligible for premium tax credits, with those eligible likely to pay less in premiums, per the report.

###

Everyone goes through tough times in life. But many things can help you survive—and even thrive—during stressful periods. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Learning healthy ways to cope and how to draw from resources in your community can help you build resilience. [NIH News In Health]

“Resilience is the extent to which we can bounce back from adverse events, cope with stress, or succeed in the face of adversity,” says Dr. Cindy Bergeman, a psychology professor at the University of Notre Dame.

You’re not born with resilience. “It’s not something you either have or don’t have,” says Dr. Alexandra Burt, a child development expert at Michigan State University.

Full article here>

###

Socioeconomic disadvantage during childhood predicts a myriad of negative outcomes, including lower earnings, poorer mental and physical health, and higher rates of criminal behavior (Cohen et al., 2008; Duncan, Ziol-Guest, & Kalil, 2010). One way disadvantage may exert these effects is by undermining the development of self-control, or the broad capacity to regulate behavior, thoughts, and emotions (Baumeister, Heatherton, & Tice, 1994). Consistent with this notion, disadvantage predicts poorer self-control during childhood (Hackman, Gallop, Evans, & Farah, 2015; Last, Lawson, Breiner, Steinberg, & Farah, 2018; Lengua et al., 2015) and, in turn, lower levels of self-control during childhood and adolescence predict poor short and long-term outcomes (Mischel & Ayduk, 2004; Moffitt et al., 2011).  [National Library of Science] 

Full article here>

###

Successful public health efforts are data-driven, focused on unhealthy or unsafe environments as well as risky behaviors, and often intentional about reforming systems that are unjust and harm public safety. While laws and their enforcement can be important to advance public health and safety, including reducing gun violence, minimizing harms of exposure to the criminal justice system is also important. Research demonstrates that appropriately targeted efforts that invest in and support individuals and neighborhoods at greatest risk for involvement in gun violence can be successful in saving lives and reaping impressive return on investment. [Daedalus; American Academy of Arts & Sciences ]

Gun violence is the number one public safety priority for many U.S. cities. It extracts extraordinary human and economic costs: firearms were used in 14,414 homicides committed in the United States in 2019, accounting for 75 percent of all homicides.¹ There were 283,503 nonfatal crimes of violence committed with firearms reported to the police in 2019, and many more gun crimes go  unreported.² Firearm homicides are the third-leading cause of death for persons twenty-five to thirty-four years old and the leading cause of death for Black males aged fifteen to thirty-four.³ One study estimated that costs related to medical treatment, disability, lost productivity, and criminal justice responses to gun violence totaled $229 billion annually.⁴ The impacts of gun violence go well beyond the people most directly involved in it. Fear of gun violence and the things we do to respond to that fear result in enormous costs to individuals and local governments. Economists at the Urban Institute found that surges in gun violence reduced neighborhood home values by 4 percent and decreased credit scores and home ownership in affected communities. A single gun homicide in a census tract in a year resulted in decreases in home values the following year of $22,000 in Minneapolis and $24,621 in Oakland, and decreases in home ownership by 3 percent in Washington, D.C., and 1 percent in Baton Rouge.⁵

Full article here>

###

COVID-19–related discrimination is common, and it appears that the pandemic has exacerbated preexisting resentment against racial/ethnic minorities and marginalized communities. Efforts are needed to minimize and discredit racially driven language and discrimination around COVID-19 and future epidemics.  [AJPH - American Journal of Public Health] 

Objectives. To determine the prevalence of COVID-19–related discrimination among major US racial/ethnic groups and estimate associations between discrimination, race/ethnicity, and other sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods. We conducted a nationally representative online survey of 5500 American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Latino (English and Spanish speaking), White, and multiracial adults from December 2020 to February 2021. Associations between sociodemographic characteristics and COVID-19–related discrimination were estimated via multinomial logistic regression.

Results. A total of 22.1% of the participants reported experiencing discriminatory behaviors, and 42.7% reported that people acted afraid of them. All racial/ethnic minorities were more likely than White adults to experience COVID-19–related discrimination, with Asian and American Indian/Alaska Native adults being most likely to experience such discrimination (discriminatory behaviors: adjusted odd ratio [AOR] = 2.59; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.73, 3.89; and AOR = 2.67; 95% CI = 1.76, 4.04; people acting afraid: AOR = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.15, 2.07; and AOR = 1.84; 95% CI = 1.34, 2.51). Limited English proficiency, lower education, lower income, and residing in a big city or the East South Central census division also increased the prevalence of discrimination.

Conclusions. COVID-19–related discrimination is common, and it appears that the pandemic has exacerbated preexisting resentment against racial/ethnic minorities and marginalized communities. Efforts are needed to minimize and discredit racially driven language and discrimination around COVID-19 and future epidemics. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(3):453–466. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306594) 

Download full article here>

Authored by Paula D. StrasslePhD, MSPH, Anita L. StewartPhD, Stephanie M. QuinteroBA, Jackie BonillaBS, Alia AlhomsiBA, Verónica Santana-UfretBS, Ana I. Maldonado. 

###

Opioid overdoses in Illinois increased 33% from 2019 to 2020. In 2020, there were 2,944 opioid overdose fatalities – more than twice the number of fatal motor vehicle accidents and more than twice the number of homicides. The increase in the number of fatalities is attributed to the rise of synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl. Since 2013, synthetic opioid deaths in Illinois have increased 2,736%.

For more details on opioid overdoses during COVID-19 visit this page>

The United States is in the middle of the deadliest drug crisis in our history. Fueled by the growing opioid epidemic, drug overdoses have now become the leading cause of death nationwide for people under the age of 50. In Illinois, opioid overdoses have killed nearly 11,000 people since 2008. Just last year, nearly 2,000 people died of overdoses—almost twice the number of fatal car accidents. Beyond these deaths are thousands of emergency department visits, hospital stays, as well as the pain suffered by individuals, families, and communities. The opioid epidemic is the most significant public health and public safety crisis facing Illinois. 

More details here>

Current new: Last month, state Sen. Laura Ellman (D-Naperville) introduced a bill that would impose harsher penalties for people who distribute fentanyl, but would give people seeking treatment for an overdose immunity from being prosecuted for possessing small amounts of the drug. The move is aimed at saving lives and encouraging people to seek help for fentanyl overdoses without fear of arrest. [The Patch 4.11.2022] 

###