Social Supports and Mortality Rates: A Disease Specific Formulation

From the 1960s to the present, advocates have introduced various criteria to highlight their diseases’ impacts, from mortality to health spending. These competing claims encouraged policymakers to seek formal ways to rank and compare diseases, creating pressure to standardize the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget across disease categories. NIH officials worried that the pursuit of narrow, disease-specific goals would funnel resources away from basic science and untargeted research. But while the proportion of the NIH budget targeting these goals declined slightly, the overall amounts increased dramatically, suggesting that specialized campaigns do not draw resources away from broader goals. The push for disease data did change how the government distributes money, bringing the funding distribution more in line with mortality rates. The effects of advocacy go beyond securing funding or passing favorable laws; advocacy also changes how policymakers define issues and judge policies, with concrete effects on funding distributions.

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Plasma YKL-40 and Total and Disease-Specific Mortality in the General Population

Clinical Chemistry ◽

10.1373/clinchem.2010.146530 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 56 (10) ◽

pp. 1580-1591 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

Julia S Johansen ◽

Stig E Bojesen ◽

Anne Tybjærg-Hansen ◽

Anne K Mylin ◽

Paul A Price ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cardiovascular Disease ◽

General Population ◽

Early Death ◽

Mortality Rates ◽

Term Survival ◽

Hazard Ratios ◽

Heart Study ◽

Specific Mortality ◽

Disease Specific Mortality ◽

Disease Specific

BACKGROUND Increased plasma YKL-40 is associated with short-term survival in patients with cardiovascular disease and cancer. We tested the hypothesis that increased plasma YKL-40 is associated with total and disease-specific mortality in the general population. METHODS We measured plasma YKL-40 in 8899 study participants, aged 20–95 years, in the Copenhagen City Heart Study from the Danish general population who were followed for 16 years: 3059 died, 2158 had ischemic cardiovascular disease, 2271 had cancer, and 2820 had other diseases associated with increased YKL-40. Hazard ratios for early death and absolute 10-year mortality rates were calculated according to plasma YKL-40 percentile groupings computed within sex and age decade: 0%–33%, 34%–66%, 67%–90%, 91%–95%, and 96%–100%. RESULTS Median survival age decreased from 83 years for participants with plasma YKL-40 in category 0%–33% to 69 years in category 96%–100% (trend, P < 0.0001). Risk of early death was increased (multifactorially adjusted hazard ratios) by 10% for YKL-40 category 34%–66%, by 30% for 67%–90%, by 70% for 91%–95%, and by 90% for 96%–100% vs YKL-40 category 0%–33% (trend, P < 0.0001). Corresponding increases in participants with ischemic cardiovascular disease were 10%, 20%, 80%, and 60% (P < 0.0001); in those with cancer were 10%, 20%, 50%, and 70% (P < 0.0001); and in those with other diseases were 10%, 20%, 40%, and 60% (P < 0.0001). Highest absolute 10-year mortality rates were 78% and 90% in women and men, respectively, who were >70 years old, smoked, and were in YKL-40 category 96%–100%. CONCLUSIONS Increased plasma YKL-40 is associated with risk of early death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other diseases in the general population.

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The identification of environmental factors in various disease processes by analysing the variation in disease-specific mortality rates

Journal of Chronic Diseases ◽

10.1016/0021-9681(77)90070-4 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 30 (8) ◽

pp. 477-487 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

J.F. Gentleman ◽

W.F. Forbes

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Mortality Rates ◽

Specific Mortality ◽

Disease Specific Mortality ◽

Disease Specific

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The infant mortality conundrum in Uruguay during the first half of the twentieth century: an analysis according to causes of death

Continuity and Change ◽

10.1017/s0268416010000263 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 435-461 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

ANNE-EMANUELLE BIRN ◽

WANDA CABELLA ◽

RAQUEL POLLERO

Keyword(s):

Infant Mortality ◽

Social Factors ◽

Respiratory Diseases ◽

Large Scale ◽

Causes Of Death ◽

Social Economic ◽

Mortality Rates ◽

Political Pressure ◽

Political Conditions ◽

Disease Specific

Around 1900 infant mortality rates (IMR) in Uruguay were among the world's lowest. By 1910, however, the IMR began a decades-long stagnation, while other countries experienced ongoing improvements. This article examines the conundrum of Uruguay's infant mortality stagnation, highlighting the leading causes of death – diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases – and their relation to social, economic and political conditions.Drawing on an array of demographic, medical eyewitness and social sources, we explore why, despite Uruguay's precocious social welfare investments, its IMR stagnated and what enabled its eventual decline circa 1940. We conclude that a confluence of public health, medical and social factors enabled disease-specific improvements, but only after political pressure for large-scale redistribution of wealth was translated into extensive welfare state measures.

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Comparison of COVID-19 and Non-COVID-19 Pneumonia in Down Syndrome

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm10163748 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (16) ◽

pp. 3748

Author(s):

Diego Real de Asua ◽

Miguel A. Mayer ◽

María del Carmen Ortega ◽

Jose M. Borrel ◽

Teresa de Jesús Bermejo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Down Syndrome ◽

Cohort Study ◽

Trisomy 21 ◽

Retrospective Cohort ◽

Mortality Rates ◽

Research Society ◽

Clinical Database ◽

Increased Risk ◽

The Mean ◽

Disease Specific

Whether the increased risk for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hospitalization and death observed in Down syndrome (DS) are disease specific or also occur in individuals with DS and non-COVID-19 pneumonias is unknown. This retrospective cohort study compared COVID-19 cases in persons with DS hospitalized in Spain reported to the Trisomy 21 Research Society COVID-19 survey (n = 86) with admissions for non-COVID-19 pneumonias from a retrospective clinical database of the Spanish Ministry of Health (n = 2832 patients). In-hospital mortality rates were significantly higher for COVID-19 patients (26.7% vs. 9.4%), especially among individuals over 40 and patients with obesity, dementia, and/or epilepsy. The mean length of stay of deceased patients with COVID-19 was significantly shorter than in those with non-COVID-19 pneumonias. The rate of admission to an ICU in patients with DS and COVID-19 (4.3%) was significantly lower than that reported for the general population with COVID-19. Our findings confirm that acute SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to higher mortality than non-COVID-19 pneumonias in individuals with DS, especially among adults over 40 and those with specific comorbidities. However, differences in access to respiratory support might also account for some of the heightened mortality of individuals with DS with COVID-19.

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