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Access to a GP can make a huge difference in curing lung cancer – and that’s a Māori problem

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Surviving lung cancer in Aotearoa New Zealand may rely upon whether you’ve access to a GP, raising questions on equity in the country’s healthcare system.

Our latest research examines the outcomes of patients diagnosed with lung cancer by their family doctor compared with patients diagnosed with lung cancer in the emergency department (ED).

Analyzing 2,400 lung cancer cases in the Waikato between 2011 and 2021, we found that folks diagnosed with lung cancer after ED visits tended to have later stage disease and worse outcomes compared to people diagnosed after referral to a GP.

We also found that diagnosis after an ED visit was 27% higher for Māori than non-Māori and 22% higher for men than women.

These results raise necessary questions on health inequalities in New Zealand and highlight the necessity to ensure everyone has access to early cancer diagnosis.

Limited access to on a regular basis health care

Currently half of all general practices have closed their books to latest patients, leaving 290,000 patients unregistered and depending on emergency departments for healthcare.

As of 2019, roughly 80% of practices closed their books to latest patients sooner or later.

For people registered for an internship, waiting time for appointments are sometimes such that the one option is to go to the emergency room for help.

This is particularly true in rural areas, where the hospital may grow to be the default route to diagnosis.

Lung cancer is probably the most common explanation for cancer death in New Zealand – there are over 1,800 per 12 months. About 80% of individuals diagnosed with lung cancer have advanced disease and have a very poor likelihood of survival.

It can also be the cancer causing the biggest capital gap. The mortality rate for Māori individuals with lung cancer is three to 4 times higher than for people of European descent.

While much of this disparity is due to differences in smoking rates amongst ethnic groups, it also exists evidence delays in diagnosis and poorer access to surgery even have a major impact on survival.

Identification of lung cancer

Lung cancer often begins in the tissue lining the airways, and symptoms may initially be relatively minor – shortness of breath when exercising, a nasty cough, or sharp pains when respiration.

Patients with some of these symptoms will often go to their GP to see whether it is something that requires further investigation.

However, if someone cannot make an appointment or doesn’t consider the symptoms to be serious, they’re likely to delay taking motion.

Advanced symptoms of lung cancer include coughing up blood or lumps in the neck due to the lymphatic spread of the cancer. People with these disturbing symptoms often go to hospital for treatment.

Our study confirms previous findings that folks diagnosed in the emergency department include:

  • more vulnerable to advanced disease
  • A more aggressive variety of cancer is more common (so-called small cell carcinoma), I
  • they’ve a much lower likelihood of survival.

The median survival for individuals who never presented to the ED was 13.6 months, while the median survival for individuals who had one ED visit was only three months.

That said, there are some advantages to visiting the emergency department. These include seeing a doctor inside hours, quick access to X-rays and, in our major hospitals, access to the last word diagnostic tool for lung cancer – computed tomography (CT).

Our study found that 25% of cases presented to the emergency department two or more times in the 2 weeks before diagnosis. This was particularly true for people going to certainly one of the agricultural hospitals in the Waikato, where it was more likely that a second or third visit was required before a diagnosis could possibly be made.

Barriers to care

It is obvious that there are still several barriers to access to primary healthcare in New Zealand. This has led to an over-reliance on emergency departments to diagnose cancer, despite the lengthy process faster cancer treatment goals.

The situation is unlikely to improve. Access to primary care physicians is deteriorating, in part because increasing fees.

Māori and Pacific patients had lung cancer less likely than other ethnic groups who were enrolled in a primary care organization on the time of diagnosis. They were also less likely to visit their GP in the three months before diagnosis.

Making visiting your loved ones doctor easier

Increasing access to overall care is probably the most effective way to eliminate inequities in our lung cancer statistics.

Currently New Zealand only has 74 general practitioners per 100,000 inhabitants people compared to 110 in Australia.

It is obvious that we want to significantly increase the variety of general practitioners. This is a long-term project, however it have to be a strategic goal for the health sector.

In the meantime, we want to increase the provision of primary care by increasing patient subsidies and reducing the direct costs of doctor visits. At the identical time, we want to higher equip primary care physicians with access to diagnostic facilities, including in our rural hospitals.

This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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Health and Wellness

The best street style looks from Day 3 of PFW SS25 – Essence

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Courtesy of Seleen Salih for ESSENCE

On the approach to Paris Fashion Week shows, all invitees have the chance to present a typical look. Despite the rain that has not stopped for 3 days, there are also beautiful views that we noticed along the best way. On the third day we saw, for instance red lips in Vaquera, Cardi B’s powdered eyes in Balmain and of course stunning beauty on every street corner.

Several off-duty models were spotted outside with fresh faces: laminated eyebrows and clean skin paired with short afros. Meanwhile, one showgoer arrived in braided Bantu knots, false eyelashes, round blush and etched pencil-thin eyebrows – much like last week’s Marni look.

Another had blonde waves on her toes that reached right down to a mid-length bow-tied rat tail, which she connected to a nude lip. Next, Goku-style spikes were probably the most experimental look we caught, bringing the Parisian punk scene to the forefront of the season.

Below, take a take a look at the highest 10 street style looks from Day 3 of PFW SS25.

The best street style looks from PFW SS25, Day 3
The best street style looks from PFW SS25, Day 3
The best street style looks from PFW SS25, Day 3
The best street style looks from PFW SS25, Day 3
The best street style looks from PFW SS25, Day 3
The best street style looks from PFW SS25, Day 3
The best street style looks from PFW SS25, Day 3
The best street style looks from PFW SS25, Day 3
The best street style looks from PFW SS25, Day 3
(*3*)

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Health and Wellness

Mamas at work: Syleena Johnson on suffering from unbearable insecurity disorder

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Antoni Tyus

Syleena Johnson is in an excellent place right away.

The singer and tv personality has released a brand new album that pays tribute to her journey and the lifetime of her father, late blues legend and Hall of Famer Syl Johnson, which she says can be her last. He is on tour promoting his work and feels good, especially mentally.

However, it takes work. Just a few years ago, like many individuals, Johnson felt the strong impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. She lost her job on a TV One talk show, her ability to go on stage and her confidence that the whole lot can be OK. The anxiety she was accustomed to had reached an awesome peak. And when she finally managed to deal along with her problems with a specialist, they told her that her stress and fear levels were more serious than she thought.

“Not having the means to survive, so to speak, was extremely traumatic,” he tells ESSENCE. “I used to be in therapy sessions and I talked loads about a number of the things that I used to be feeling and going through, but what we didn’t speak about was just that it was because of the pandemic itself. We’ve talked about this from the very starting, from the traumas that I experienced as a baby because of bullying and never only being bullied by kids at school, but additionally being bullied by men, being bullied by relations. Because mental abuse is a type of abuse. Losing money and being within the music industry and the best way you might be treated within the music industry is crazy. That’s a variety of rejection. So the constant thought that you’re going to get something is constant. All this increases the sensation of insecurity in a single’s life.

Unexpectedly, she was diagnosed with: Unacceptable disruption of uncertainty. A 2004 study described it as “the tendency to react negatively at the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral levels to uncertain situations and events.”

Fear of the unknown is common for many individuals, but for Johnson it became debilitating. It would creep into on a regular basis life and even affect her ability to perform.

“I’m really afraid to go outside because I think there will be too many bugs,” she recalls. Such a bit shit. I don’t need to go on stage. They won’t like this show. I just couldn’t stand the uncertainty. And so the whole lot has all the time been on this spirit. Even positive moments have became these sorts of incidents. And this is de facto dangerous since it manifests itself in your life. It is basically a type of negative pondering.”

And they weren’t just thoughts. Her anxiety manifested itself in physical symptoms. The extreme fear became panic attacks, possibly hives, and “sometimes it was tears.” Her fears were even deepened by motherhood.

“My youngest son has autism. This alone puts me in a difficult situation because I don’t know what my child’s quality of life will be like. And there’s nothing I can do about it,’ says Johnson, who has two teenage boys. “And I live in that reality every day.”

She adds: “When you could have a baby with special needs, you are always in fight or flight mode or always worrying if my child goes to be OK. And simply quality of life. So I feel it creates an unbearable uncertainty disorder.

Mamas at work: Syleena Johnson on unbearable insecurity disorder and its impact on her mental health and motherhood
Antoni Tyus

But once Johnson was given a reputation for her behavior, she could begin to work on countering these negative, debilitating thoughts.

Thanks to this, I can control myself,” he says. “It requires positive affirmations and a change in mindset. You must always validate yourself and develop a habit. And it’s worthwhile to have a variety of positive self-talk. You must surround yourself with individuals who understand your diagnosis, take it seriously, and might communicate with you and behave around you in a roundabout way.

These practices had a huge effect on bringing peace to Johnson. It focuses not only on positive pondering, but additionally on realistic pondering. She has learned, within the midst of uncertainty, to take care of things as they arise, one at a time. She calls it doing things with “meticulous precision,” and that features parenting.

Now that I’m in therapy, it’s all about being meticulously precise, which implies narrowing down what is going on on. Don’t look at it as a variety of pressure all at once. You cannot take on the whole lot. It’s unimaginable,” he says. “So with extreme precision: step by step. Day by day, situation by situation, step by step. There is no plan. You just have to slow everything down. When things come fast, you have to slow down and deal with what’s happening. The truth is that we cannot control everything in the world. You just can’t. And you can’t achieve everything when everyone wants you to achieve it. It’s that simple.”

This way of acting also helped her to look deeper into herself. There is not any such thing as pleasing people for those who resolve to take things one at a time.

“That way you put yourself first. These people can handle it. They’ll be fine. You also have to think that on the other side they may also be struggling with unbearable uncertainty and anxiety, which is why they put the burden on you to get something,” he says. “You can only give people what you could have right away. You cannot give them more since you haven’t got it. And once we try to do that on a regular basis, we find yourself feeling empty.

He adds: “But it’s really a really detailed decision. You just must decelerate life. You must decelerate and accept that you just are slowing down.

This practice, together with prioritizing other ways of self-care equivalent to exercising at the gym, attending church and fellowship, spending time together with your circle of friends, taking walks in nature, and sometimes spending the day in your pajamas, catching up on TV, is the whole lot affects her mental health. No more hives. No more panic attacks. No more extreme fear.

“I just try to make those moments happen as often as possible because I still have to deal with a certain level of anxiety,” Johnson notes. “You cannot run away from it. Trials and suffering are all the time present. There’s nothing you’ll be able to do about it, but you’ll be able to create instances in your life where you’ll be able to take care of it, where you’ll be able to have control over it. You cannot let it control you because it should, but it surely’s all about the way you take care of it and who you might be in it.

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Health and Wellness

Black Americans are more likely to feel the effects of rising prescription drug costs

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As prescription drug costs proceed to rise, Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to afford their medications. AND recent report findPrice increases disproportionately affect Black Americans.

Patients for Affordable Medicines it tells for Affordable Health Care released a report this month that showed price increases for 1,000 prescription drugs this 12 months. Almost half of the prices were above the inflation level.

A study found that one-third of Americans cannot afford prescription drugs. Black and Latino patients aged 65 and over were most likely to report difficulties, according to the report in paying in your medications.

Enhertu is a drugs used to treat HER2-negative breast cancer, a sort of cancer that mainly occurs in black women. Drug manufacturer raised the price drug eight times since 2019, the latest increase, bringing the cost of the drug to more than $2,800 per thirty days.

Revlimid is used to treat multiple myeloma, which has increased by 7%. According to the report, Black Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with the disease and die from it.

Patients on Affordable Drugs executive director Merith Basey says these price increases hit people of color the hardest.

“Black and Latino families are at higher risk for chronic diseases and certain cancers … that require long-term, very expensive medications,” Basey said NBC News.

“A lot of this also has to do with racial disparities in health care, which have been well documented due to systemic racism,” she said.

Organizations like Patients for Affordable Medicines and Health Care for America Now are pushing for policies that can ease the burden on many Americans. The Inflation Reduction ActThe bill, signed by President Joe Biden, goals to lower prescription drug prices.

Health Care for America Now executive director Margarida Jorge criticized the health care industry for its handling of diseases that disproportionately affect minorities.

“We have known about sickle cell disease for many, many years,” Jorge said NBC News, “but there hasn’t been a lot of attention paid to actually addressing sickle cell disease with a drug that’s available to regular people — and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that it’s a Black disease,” she told the website.

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This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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