According to statistics, nearly 2 million people live with limb loss in the United States. The main causes of loss of limb are peripheral arterial disease, diabetes, and other vascular diseases, which make up for 54%, trauma which makes up for 45% as well as cancer, which accounts for 2%. Every year, about 185,000 amputations take place in the US.
In the past two decades, the number of people in the United States getting pacemaker implants has increased significantly. There are 225,567 people with internal cardiac pacemakers, making it the country with the highest number of patients with this implant. A study found that between 1993 and 2009, there were close to 3 million people in the U.S. who had a pacemaker implanted.
A recent study published by JAMA Internal Medicine sheds some light into how the gender of a doctor may play a role in the quality of health care for patients in New York and across the U.S. The information suggests that patients treated by female physicians have a greater chance of living after being discharged from a hospital. Additionally, the study revealed that patient deaths are higher when they are treated by male doctors.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, over 5 million people in the United States are affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Although it is commonly known to affect people aged 65 and older, up to 5% of those diagnosed have early onset Alzheimer’s.
Many people who are in need of medical care don’t notice the difference of care if their doctor is a man or a woman. As people age, the degree and frequency of care increases, and it becomes very important that the elderly patient receives the best care possible.
