Good news is no(t) news

When it comes to fixing our nation's health care system, health outcomes are what matters.

Except to the news media.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just issued the latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Its news release trumpeted "U.S. Mortality Drops Sharply in 2006.  Latest Data Show." 

This "news" received as much media attention as last week's announcement that casualties in Iraq are the lowest since 2003 -- in short, a virtual news blackout. To turn around the saw: good news is no news.

 

For public health practitioners, health outcomes should be the consensus metric. The data show convincingly that 8 of the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. all dropped significantly in 2006. This continues the trend of the past quarter century and trumps the fact that our aging population would be expected to fare worse; in fact, both the raw and age-adjusted rates reflect the improvement. In just the single past year, deaths due to heart disease dropped 5.5%; strokes, 6.4%; hypertension, 5%. The list goes on. But the media loves negativity and too many advocacy groups have a vested interest in (manufacturing and) peddling a mileau of health threats.

Just a month ago, a prestigious research team published another analysis of federal health outcomes statistics in a well-regarded, peer-reviewed journal examining the comparative health outcomes of Americans choosing low-salt diets compared to those choosing diets unchanged in the amount of salt customarily used over the past century. Mortality in the low-salt group was much higher. Low-salt diets didn't deliver promised benefits; they even may add risk. This wasn't news either. The data undermined the crisis advocates' politically-correct intervention.

We need to get beyond the rhetoric and look at the facts, the data. Clearly, the view through the prism of the media and at least some public health advocates is preventing us from focusing on evidence-based policy decisions.  For more information.