Diagnosis of Chronic Disease Depends on Where You Live
Researchers analyzed records on nearly 5.2 million Americans aged 65 and up [and] examined data on diagnoses of nine serious chronic conditions: cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, peripheral artery disease, severe liver disease, diabetes with end-organ disease, chronic renal failure and dementia.
The mean number of chronic health conditions diagnosed was 8.7 for every 10 people…. On the low end, patients in the Grand Junction, Colo., and Idaho Falls, Idaho, were diagnosed with 5.8 chronic illnesses for every 10 people, compared to more than 12 illnesses for every 10 people in Miami and McAllen, Texas.
Full article on chronic diseases and where you live.
I’m not sure what this means. Are a lot of people being under-diagnosed? Or, are a lot of poepole being over-diagnosed?
Interesting.
Or is it just more hazardous to live in McAllen and Miami?
We have heard so much about how hospitals in Grand Junction are a model of what hospitals should do and providers in McAllen are the examples of what hospitals should not do. Maybe an underlying reason health costs are so low in Grand Junction CO (and high in McAllen) is vastly different health status.
Good point, Devon. But I still think that no one knows what this really means.