There is no longer any serious doubt that daily habits and actions
profoundly influence both short and long term health and quality of
life. For example, coronary heart disease (CHD), by far the leading
killer of both men and women in the United States resulting in 37% of
all mortality in the U.S. each year, has significant lifestyle
components. Indeed, the five major risk factors for CHD including high
blood pressure, cigarette smoking, elevated cholesterol, physical
inactivity and obesity, are fundamentally based on poor lifestyle choices
and habits.
The epidemic of obesity continues to grow in the United States with
over 67% of the population either overweight or obese. The associated
epidemic of inactivity also carries enormous negative health
consequences. Over 70% of the adult population in the United States
does not achieve adequate levels of physical activity to achieve
cardiovascular or other health benefits. Poor nutrition contributes
significantly to the burden of disease in the United States. Eight out
of the twelve leading causes of death in the United States each year
have a nutrition or alcohol component.
Thus, poor lifestyle choices are contributing to an enormous health
burden both on individuals and our country. Perhaps of even greater
concern, the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents has
doubled over the last 20 years in the United States. Moreover, over
half of children over the age of 12 in the United States are not
active enough to achieve health benefits.
The economic burden of poor lifestyle choices is also impossible to
ignore. According to the World Health Organization, the United States
spends more than $6,200 each year on what is basically "sickness" care
for every man, woman and child in the United States. In contrast, all
of the other major industrial economies in the world spend
substantially less money on healthcare. To give one of many examples,
Greece spends approximately $600 per year for every man, woman and
child, yet achieves superior outcomes in virtually every
internationally recognized healthcare outcome compared to the United
States. All of the other industrialized economies also achieve better
outcomes than the United States. Clearly this is a problem that cannot
be solved simply by throwing more money at it.
The double digit annual increase in healthcare expenditures in the
United States is no longer sustainable. Forward looking hospitals
recognize that they are in a unique situation to impact on the overall
healthcare needs of their patients. For example, manifestations of
coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, arthritis,
osteoporosis, stroke and obesity are often treated in the hospital
setting. These are conditions that affect the lives of millions of Americans
everyday. Lifestyle Medicine modalities have clearly been demonstrated
to be effective in both the prevention and management (often in
conjunction with pharmaceutical therapies) of these conditions.
Forward looking hospitals are beginning to take proactive steps to
assume a broader role in "early health" rather than simply being
treatment centers for individuals once they have acquired disease.