Lunch at the Labs

Health Matters

Some links about the health care system and being healthy.

• The problem is the prices (for health care)

  Opaque and sky high bills are breaking Americans -- and our health care system.

  The health care prices in the United States are, in a word, outlandish. On average, an MRI in the United States costs $1,119. That same scan costs $503 in Switzerland and $215 in Australia.
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  High prices are hurting American families. Most Americans who get insurance at work now have a deductible over $1,000. High prices are why medical debt remains a leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, and nowhere else.
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  We rarely know what our bill will be when we enter a doctor's office, or even when we leave. The prices aren't listed on the wall or a website as they would be in most other places where consumers spend money.
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  The real culprit in the United States is not that we go to the doctor too much. The culprit is that whenever we do go to the doctor, we pay an extraordinary amount.
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  Our health care legislation in the United States focuses on the question of who pays for health care. In order to have real progress, however, we're going to tackle a new question: How much do we pay? Until we do, we're likely to continue living in a world of $25,000 MRIs and $629 Band-Aids that families struggle to pay for.

  To help improve things see, Hospitals keep ER fees secret. Share your bill to help change that.

• Depression: How effective are antidepressants?

  The various antidepressants have been compared in many studies. Overall, the commonly used tricyclic antidepressants SSRIs and SSNRIs performed equally well. Studies of adults with moderate or severe depression showed:

  • Without antidepressants: About 20 to 40 out of 100 people who took a placebo noticed an improvement in their symptoms within six to eight weeks.
  • With antidepressants: About 40 to 60 out of 100 people who took an antidepressant noticed an improvement in their symptoms within six to eight weeks.
  In other words, antidepressants improved symptoms in about 20 more people out of 100.

• Exercise and the Prevention of Depression: Results of the HUNT Cohort Study

  The American Journal of Psychiatry

  Regular leisure-time exercise of any intensity provides protection against future depression but not anxiety. Relatively modest changes in population levels of exercise may have important public mental health benefits and prevent a substantial number of new cases of depression.

• Exercise interventions for cognitive function in adults older than 50: a systematic review with meta-analysis

  British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM)

  Physical exercise improved cognitive function in the over 50s, regardless of the cognitive status of participants. To improve cognitive function, this meta-analysis provides clinicians with evidence to recommend that patients obtain both aerobic and resistance exercise of at least moderate intensity on as many days of the week as feasible, in line with current exercise guidelines.