Mature Market Experts Stat of The Day: Alzheimer’s And Diabetes – Lethal Partners

Mature Market Experts, today I’m (Tom Mann of TR Mann Consulting) writing you from sunny San Antonio, Texas, where I’m scheduled to speak at the International Council of Active Aging’s annual conference about relational advertising. Anyway, here’s the stat of the day: People with diabetes have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease — and doctors don’t know why. But researchers have found that compared with Alzheimer’s patients who never developed diabetes; those who had both conditions and received diabetes therapy had 80% fewer brain-clogging amyloid plaques, a physical sign of Alzheimer’s. It’s not clear why the treatment had this effect, but the hope is that diabetes drugs could reduce symptoms in some and provide clues to new treatments.

Source: Time Magazine

Mature Market Experts Stat of The Day: Colon-Cancer Screening

Half of the mature market, ages 50 and older, received a colon scan, meeting the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) target for colon-cancer screening.

Source: Time Magazine

Mature Market Experts Stat of The Day: 5 Truths about U.S. Health Care

Discrepancies among life expectancy in the mature market? “Despite its vast medical resources, the U.S. ranks just 34^th in life expectancy, at 77.9 years. That number masks the large disparities that exist within the U.S. On average, Asian-American women live the longest-88.8 years- while African-American men have the shortest lives, 69.4 years.”

Source: Time Magazine

Excellent graphics from Time Magazine on how long we live.

Tom Peter’s PowerPoint ties into this same subject. I published this last week, but it’s worth posting again. It took Tom ten years to build this PowerPoint! Tons of interesting stats . . . I don’t agree with everything Tom says but this is well worth reading.

Note: My take on this subject is that while we can make many, many, many improvements to our health care system, it’s still the best one in the world. Unfortunately, we also have the worst health habits (diet, exercise, stress). Until we start taking better care of ourselves and demanding better food choices, we will be fighting an uphill battle. Boomers will lead the charge for healthier choices . . . those that provide them these options will reap the rewards!

I think my TR Mann Consulting teammate Dr. Gary Applebaum’s take on this subject is a balanced take on the subject: Sick Care – Part 1 and Sick Care – Part 2.

Mature Market Experts Stat of The Day: Medical Tourism

According to Time Magazine, American’s (the vast majority of whom I assume are in the mature market) are traveling abroad in greater numbers for medical care.

“The medical tourism industry has experienced massive growth over the past decade. Experts in the field say as many as 150,000 U.S. citizens underwent medical treatment abroad in 2006 — the majority in Asia and Latin America. That number grew to an estimated 750,000 in 2007 and could reach as high as 6 million by 2010. Patients are packing suitcases and boarding planes for everything from face lifts to heart bypasses to fertility treatments.

In recent years, companies all over the U.S. have sprung up to guide Americans through the insurance and logistical hurdles of surgery abroad, including many in U.S. border states affiliated with medical facilities in Mexico. The physician-managed MedToGo in Tempe, Arizona, founded in 2000, says its clients save “up to 75% on medical care” by getting it in Mexico. The Christus Muguerza hospital system — located in Mexico, but run by U.S.-based Christian hospital group since 2001 — includes a scrolling text box on its web site informing visitors how “very close to you” its Mexican facilities are. (“from Houston 1 hr 37 mins!” “from Chicago 3hrs 15 mins!”) Meanwhile, New Zealand is trumpeting its expertise in hip and knee replacements and South Korea is enticing medical travelers with high-end non-medical amenities like golf.

For those who wrinkle their noses at the thought of going under the knife in a foreign, let alone still-developing, country, the American Medical Association introduced a set of guidelines in June for medical tourism. The AMA advocates that insurance companies, employers and others involved in the medical tourism field provide proper follow-up care, tell patients of their rights and legal recourse, use only accredited facilities, and inform patients of “the potential risks of combining surgical procedures with long flights and vacation activities,” among other recommendations. Joint Commission International, a non-profit that certifies the safety and record of hospitals, has accredited some 200 foreign medical facilities, many in Spain, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.”

Source: Time Magazine