Some Good News on Health When Everything Seems Bad

We cannot deny the devastating impacts of the pandemic. The pandemic has changed how we work, learn, and of course, socialize.
However, even during the midst of the pandemic, there are still positive health trends worth celebrating. Here are some recent health trends from Harvard Health to give us some good news, when everything seems bad
• Death related to Alzheimer’s disease fell 1.6% from the previous years.
• Cholesterol levels across the US population have been stabilizing. About 18% of Americans had high cholesterol during 1999. As of 2018, only 10.5% of the American’s had high (“bad”) cholesterol levels. Meanwhile, about 22% of the population had low (“good”) cholesterol; that number fell to 16% in 2018.
• Cigarette smoking also faced a decrease. According to the CDC, in 2017, 14% of US adults were smokers, an all-time low since such statistics have been collected. This represents a steady drop from 2006 when nearly 1 in 5 of people were smokers. Rates of smoking-related illness, including several of the top 10 causes of death like chronic lung disease, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease has been decreasing rapidly.
• 3% Increase in Heart Transplants was seen despite the pandemic. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which manages the nation’s organ transplant system, 2020 was a record-breaking year due to the increase of more than 12,500 donors in 2020.
• The State of Florida ranked among the top 10 states in health care. Six metrics contributed to the rankings: child wellness visits, health insurance enrollment, adult wellness visits, adult dental visits, child dental visits, and health care affordability. According to U.S. News, Florida is one of the states that shines in health care.