Още едно тъжно напомняне за това колко много се е влошило здравето на обикновения човек през последните 20 години. Ако тези тенденции не бъдат обърнати или поне забавени, можем да започнем да виждаме хора на 20-годишна възраст да подават молби за Medicare/Medicaid поради бързо нарастващи здравословни проблеми и неспособност да покрият разходите си за здраве – комбинация от фактори, обикновено срещани само при лица над 80-годишна възраст. Политиците в САЩ постоянно говорят за предстоящата неплатежоспособност на тези програми. Все пак проблемът не е в липсата на финансиране. Този обществен аргумент просто е тактика за отвличане на вниманието от истинската причина – хората стават все по-болни на все по-млада възраст. Следователно, младите, които се очаква да финансират тези програми и да се ползват от тях след пенсиониране, се нуждаят от тях спешно сега.
“…Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is fairly common among older adults, detectable in about a quarter of the population. But a study has found that substantial numbers of 24-year-olds are also affected, putting them at risk of serious later health problems, such as liver cancer, type-2 diabetes and heart attacks. Researchers from Bristol University tested more than 4,000 young people enrolled in a longitudinal study called the Children of the 90s, set up to follow the lives and health of children born in 1991 and 1992 in Avon, England. All of them had been given an ultrasound at the age of 18, which revealed that 2.5% had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Five years later, a newer kind of scan called transient elastography or fibroscan detected that over 20% had fatty deposits on the liver, or steatosis, indicating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Half of those were classified as severe. The scans also found that 2.4% had fibrosis – scarring on the liver. Severe scarring can cause cirrhosis. Presenting the results of the study at the International Liver Congress in Vienna, Dr Kushala Abeysekera, from the University of Bristol, said: “We were concerned to find that, at only 24 years of age, one in five had steatosis and one in 40 had evidence of fibrosis, based on elastography results, in a group of largely asymptomatic, predominantly Caucasian young people. “The results of our study suggest greater public health awareness of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is needed in young adults in the UK.”
Източник:
