Health

Return to Societal Challenges

Life Expectancy

• Pandemic cut U.S. life expectancy by a year during the first half of 2020 (2-18-21)
• Life Expectancy In The U.S. Sees Largest Decline In Decades After Covid-19 (1/24/21)
• Large decline in cancer mortality (1/13/21)

• COVID-19 cuts life expectancy by 1 year, study finds* Cost of Cancer Drugs (1/15/21)
• Average life expectancy increases for fifth year in a row, CDC finds (12-22-20)

Health Measure

• Quality-adjusted life year - QALY is a measure of the value of health outcomes. Scores range from 1 (perfect health) to 0 (dead). 1 QALY (1 year of life × 1 Utility value)

• As many as 25 million Americans – about 1 in 13 people - suffer from a rare, undiagnosed condition.

Health Complexity

• The vast system of blood vessels - arteries, veins, and capillaries - is over 60,000 miles long. That's more going around the world twice!

Cancer

• Breast cancer death rates stop declining in younger women, study finds (2-15-21)
• "CT Scan overdose and overuse gives 50,000 American cancer every year" Korley, Pham, Kirsh, 2009

Health is the state and management of physical, mental, functional and genomic health including life expectancy. Health are realities that can impact people, communities (industries, organizations, locations or groups) and other realities.

Health is not about being able to compete in the Olympics, it is being healthy enough to achieve basic needs (food, clothing, housing) and and desired level of Purpose and Meaning (spending time with grandchildren), Love and Connection and Competence and Control.

Health is a component of personal well-being.