A recent article available at www.annfammed.org/content/10/5/452.full
reports that changes in the way diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure),
and their “pre-” conditions (pre-diabetes and pre-hypertension) are now diagnosed
have added millions of people onto the roles of those who are placed on intense
pharmaceutical protocols. This adds up to an additional 10 million people being
treated for diabetes and over 22 million for hypertension due to the lowering
of diagnostic thresholds.
What does it mean that the diagnostic thresholds have been
lowered?
It means that in 1998 the fasting plasma glucose test used
to diagnose a person with diabetes was lowered from 140 to 126. This move alone
resulted in over 10.3 million people being labeled as diabetic. The pre-diabetes threshold was lowered from
110 to 100 in 2003 with a resultant rise in new people being placed in this
category.
High blood pressure (hypertension) had its diagnostic
threshold lowered from 160/95 to 140/90 in 1993 for people without diabetes.
For people with diabetes, the hypertension threshold was set at 130/80 in 1998,
which is lower than the hypertension thresholds for non-diabetic patients. In
that same year, the pre-hypertension threshold was set at 120/80. These changes
resulted in an additional 22 million people being diagnosed as having or in the
process of acquiring hypertension.
What does this all mean? It means that there are now
millions more people taking medication than there were a few short years ago
because of the lowered diagnostic thresholds that have recently been changed.
An article in the Annals
of Family Medicine attempts to define and understand how pharmaceutical
companies are influencing the practice of medicine and the health of their
patients.
The researchers and authors of this study report that
spending on prescription drugs in the United States has increased nearly 6-fold
since 1990. This increase in drug use is due to the astronomical increase in
the treatment of chronic health conditions resulting in 45% of Americans being
treated for at least one chronic condition. Treatment for three chronic health conditions
that includes hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol levels, and
diabetes make up 60% of the most frequently prescribed medications. In addition
to these reports, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that
11% of Americans and 40% of the U.S. population over 60 years of age take five
or more medications on a regular basis.
Why is this occurring and is it absolutely necessary that
these patients must take such large amounts of medication?
The authors of the Annals
of Family Medicine article have identified a few of the most prominent
reasons for prescribing vast amounts of medication to patients. One of the
reasons is that medical doctors are rewarded for keeping patient’s symptoms and
medical test results below established guidelines that are set by committees
and organizations. However, those same committees and organizations are heavily
influenced by the pharmaceutical industry with some of these committees and
organizations being populated by people with links to the pharmaceutical
industry.
The authors suggest that pharmaceutical industry influence
be abolished from these committees and organizations. They also suggest that
doctors be banned from meeting with pharmaceutical industry representatives (i.e.;
sales representatives) who may influence their decisions to overprescribe
medications.
The combination of changes in the way diabetes, hypertension
(high blood pressure), and their “pre-” conditions (pre-diabetes and
pre-hypertension) are now diagnosed have added millions of people onto the
roles of people who are placed on intense pharmaceutical protocols,
pharmaceutical industry influence on committees and organizations setting
treatment guidelines, and the influence exerted by pharmaceutical sales
representatives on doctors may all be contributing to a conspiracy to place
more people on prescription drugs.
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Perry Hall Chiropractic and Physical Therapy
8817 Belair Road
Perry Hall, MD 21236
410-256-9650
