As we move through the health and mortality transition, we find that some groups gain and some lose in the process. There was good news this week from the US Centers for Disease Control that the number of teenage fatalities from car crashes have declined by about a third over the past five years. This is attributed to safer cars, better highways, and the high cost of gasoline that may keep some teenagers off the streets, but not to any improvement in the quality of driving among teenagers.
At the same time, however, the CDC is worried that the current increase in obesity could lead to a situation by 2050 in which one in three adults could have diabetes. To be sure, medical treatment has lowered the fatality rate from diabetes, but the cost of providing that treatment, not to mention the diminution of the quality of life associated with any major degenerative disease, does not bode well for the future.
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