Women were considered the heartier of the sexes because they lived longer and had fewer incidents of heart disease, ulcers, and lung cancer. But this has changed. In past decades, women had limited choices and most became wives and mothers, but with the women`s movement came wider choices and increased stresses.
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Today women contend with the same problems that men face in the workforce-desire to advance, income to support the family, and status gained from work. In addition women often work 8 hours at one job and then work another few hours at home. Some women must decide whelther to forego children for work; others worry about child care. With the increase in smoking, stress in the work setting, and a polluted environment, women are rapidly approaching men in stress-related illnesses.
Prevention of illness is the best defense against the health care industry. Getting a second or third opinion is the second best line of defense. Patients, at one time, were loath to ask their physicians for referral for another opinion. Now almost every insurance company requires it. Even so, many procedures are performed for little reason. In a Rand study completed in 1988, only 56% of the coronary bypass surgeries performed were appropriate. Hysterectomies fare little better when 33% of the operations performed per year are unnecessary. Prostates are performed 29% of the time without good reason. One research group estimates that more than $10 billion is spent each year on surgical procedures that are not necessary. In America, mastectomies are performed more often than lumpectomies, even though research in Europe, over a 10 year period, indicates that survival rates are as good with the less intrusive procedure.
Prevention of illness includes the following :
a. Sensible diet to maintain weight
b. Exercise
c. Stress reduction
d. Elimination of smoking
e. Limiting alcohol consumption
f. Balancing work and recreation
Although prevention for men and women is essentially the same, there are a few differences. Women need monthly breast examinations, yearly Pap smears, and, if over forty, regularly scheduled mammograms. Men need prostate check-ups on a reguler basis. In addition a baseline electrocardiogram is probably a good idea for anyone over forty years old. The greatest barrier to routine check-ups is the lack of coverage for preventive examminations, which leads to out-of-pocket expenses of several hundred dollars.
References :
Califano J : America`s health care revolution, New York, 1986, Random House.
Grace L. Deloughery, Issues and Trends in Nursing, 1991, Mosby Year Book, St. Louis, Missouri.
