Throughout the month of February, the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and the rest of the nation celebrates Black History Month. During this month, we commemorate the significant accomplishments and achievements of African-Americans as well as their important role in U.S. history and the impact on public health in our state. February also marks [...]
For the past several years stroke has been recognized as the fourth leading disease-related cause of death in Arizona, making it eligible for tobacco tax funding under Proposition 303. Our Bureau of Tobacco and Chronic Disease (BTCD) has been dedicating a portion of tobacco tax revenues to fund the development of healthcare systems aimed at increasing the [...]
Strokes can cause long-term health problems and death. The good news is that strokes can be prevented by understanding the risk factors (which are similar to heart disease) like high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, and tobacco. To find out more about your risk for a stroke, you can talk with your physician and [...]
The Top 5 things that kill people in the US are: heart disease, cancer, lung disease such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis, stroke and injuries. In fact- these 5 conditions cause 63% of all deaths in the US — which is nearly 18,000 people each year in AZ (about 50 people/day in AZ). This week [...]
The new Surgeon General’s report on smoking called The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General adds diabetes, colorectal and liver cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, erectile dysfunction, age-related macular degeneration, and other conditions to the list of diseases that cigarette smoking causes. The report (released this week) concludes that secondhand [...]
Seems like anytime you hear a 100+ year old person being interviewed about the secret to long life they say “take care of your teeth and feet and drink cod liver oil”. For good reason. Good oral health is critical to a person’s overall health. Tooth decay and gum disease are linked with heart disease, [...]
The CDC just developed a great new Cost Calculator that provides state-level annual medical expenditure and absenteeism estimates for 10 chronic conditions. The tool provides medical expenditures for all of AZ for all payers as well as specific payers Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial insurers. The 10 chronic conditions are arthritis; asthma; cancer; cardiovascular diseases (congestive [...]
We’ve been monitoring the response times for the big ambulance service provider - Rural Metro – since they went into bankruptcy in August. They have 13 different ambulance services in Arizona and we want to make sure that they're meeting the grade during their reorganization. We asked them to send us monthly reports on their response times [...]
Oral health is more than a nice smile. Having good oral health improves a person’s ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, and eat. Plus, tooth decay and gum disease have been linked with other health problems like heart disease, stroke and diabetes, as well as premature births. Given the link between oral diseases and [...]
Oral health is more than a nice smile. Having good oral health improves a person’s ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, and eat. Plus, tooth decay and gum disease have been linked with other health problems like heart disease, stroke and diabetes, as well as premature births. Given the potential link between oral [...]
