Thread: State to check on residents' health

Thursday, July 20, 2006 - Page updated at 09:56 AM

State to check on residents' health

By Warren King

Seattle Times medical reporter

Washington state health officials will soon start asking detailed questions about the health of some state residents — and even give them brief physical exams.

The door-to-door survey of 1,100 randomly selected households across the state will try to learn more about our health, and especially about our risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, to better target preventive educational programs.

"We want to get a snapshot of [residents'] health ... and if we can't prevent the diseases, have early detection of them," said Dr. Juliet VanEenwyk, state epidemiologist for noninfectious diseases.

The Washington Adult Health Survey is sponsored by the state Department of Health and is designed to gather a cross section of state residents. The survey will begin late this month and will take about a year, VanEenwyk said.

Cardiovascular disease — including heart disease and stroke — is of particular interest because it's the leading cause of death, killing about 15,000 state residents a year.

About 1,500 people a year die of diabetes complications, and the number is steadily increasing.

Evidence abounds that many already have the diseases or are at risk. A statewide telephone survey last year found that about a quarter of adults have high blood pressure and more than a third have high cholesterol. And state health authorities estimate about one-fifth of adults are obese.
Information


Washington Adult Health Survey: www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/heart_stroke/wahs.htm

In this latest survey, selected participants will be asked about their access to health care and whether they have dental problems, osteoporosis, emphysema or cancer. Other questions will center on diet, medications and other risks for disease such as tobacco and alcohol use.

A nurse on each survey team will measure blood pressure, pulse, height, weight and waist size.

A blood sample will be taken to measure cholesterol and blood sugar.

A hair sample, to measure mercury levels, will be taken from women of childbearing age and participants 60 and older.

"We'll ask about fish consumption to see if certain types cause higher levels of mercury," said VanEenwyk.

Surveyors will wear yellow vests and carry photo identification.

Participants will be given a $45 gift card for their help in the survey. Officials are not seeking volunteers; participants are being chosen to represent the diverse population of the state.

The survey is being financed by an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kansas and Arkansas also were awarded survey grants.

Warren King: 206-464-2247 or wking@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

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Participants will be given a $45 gift card for their help in the survey. Officials are not seeking volunteers; participants are being chosen to represent the diverse population of the state.

If your "chosen" can you refuse? Are they checking to see how their efforts are progressing?

I don't see why you can't refuse to participate. Seems to me like this is a way to get around the confidentiality of medical records. Personally I have no intention of participating if they happen to show up at my door.

They are taking samples of blood and hair....

You can’t get a accurate blood sugar count unless the patient has fasted for 24hrs to check diabetes.

Who in their right mind would let one of these people in their homes to give them a "Free" examination?

What else are they doing with the blood and hair samples?

What else are they doing with the blood and hair samples?

Exactly. There's ALOT of info in those hair samples! No way would I participate. But if your elderly and on a fixed income....that 45. would come in handy.

You can’t get a accurate blood sugar count unless the patient has fasted for 24hrs to check diabetes.

That's right, I completely forgot about that.

As for the hair, I would guess they want it for DNA. I know they can get it from the blood too, but I can't think of anything they can get from hair they can't get from blood.

Officials are not seeking volunteers;

What about patient privacy? What about HIPPA?
NO WAY!

but I can't think of anything they can get from hair they can't get from blood.

I could be wrong and it may depend on the type of hair analysis......but they can tell what brand of shampoo you use, your past drug and alcohol for a long time back, everything you ate and drank, what toxins you've been exposed to and how long ago, what vitamins and minerals your lacking in, if you smoke and how much......all sorts of things.(have a friend who worked for a company who did it) Some businesses are starting to use it instead of urinalysis. They can tell if your a weekend drinker and for how long to see if you have a pattern. That will be out of your UA and blood where your hair is a record book.

Hair Analysis as a Test for Drug Use

Because every drug taken becomes a permanent part of the user's hair, laboratory analysis of hair can reveal the presence of a variety of drugs, including HEROIN, COCAINE, AMPHETAMINES, PHENCYCLIDINE, MARIJUANA, NICOTINE, and BARBITURATES. Hair analysis is widely accepted by courts, parole boards, police departments, and employers around the country for detecting long-term drug use. It's also increasingly used to determine maternal/fetal drug exposure and to validate self-reports of drug use.

Unlike urinalysis, which can only detect drugs ingested within the past three to four days, hair analysis can reveal the ingestion of drugs during the past ninety days (or longer). Since hair grows at a relatively constant rate of1⁄ 2 inch (1 cm) per month, segmental analysis of hair strands could localize the time of drug exposure to within as little as one particular week. Although various hair treatments—such as tinting and perming—may remove some of the evidence, detectable traces will indelibly remain in the hair.


Drugs in Hair

Hair is nonliving tissue composed primarily of a sulfur-rich protein called keratin. Hair growth occurs at a rate of 0.3 to 0.4 millimeters (0.011 to 0.012 inches) per day from the follicle (a saclike organ in the skin) in cycles of active growth followed by a resting phase. For an adult, approximately 85 percent of scalp hair is in the growing stage at any time. Two sets of glands are associated with the follicle: The sebaceous glands, which excrete sebum (a waxy substance), and the apocrine glands, which excrete an oil that coats the hair. Hair color is determined by genetic programming for varying amounts of melanin, a pigment that is synthesized in hair cells called melanocytes.

The exact mechanism by which drugs enter hair is unknown. They may be deposited from the capillaries, which supply blood to the follicles, or they may be excreted in the sebum, oil, or sweat that coat the hair shafts. Drugs can also be deposited on the hair by environmental exposure (such as marijuana smoke or cocaine powder in the air).

Psychemedics Corporation president Raymond Kubacki shows his company's new drug testing pack at a press conference in New York City, July 12, 1995. The kit allows parents to clip a lock of their children's hair and mail it into test for drug use. (Reuters/Mark Cardwell/Archive Photos) When hair is analyzed for drug use, a sample is taken from either the head or the body. It's washed to remove dirt and any external drug deposits (the wash medium is also tested), then stripped of melanin. The actual analysis is performed by RADIOIMMUNOASSAY that detects not only traces of drugs but their metabolites, chemicals that appear only when the body has metabolized (processed) the drug. All positive samples are confirmed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). This second test has a cutoff level to eliminate specimens containing drug levels that could come from environmental exposure (inhaling second-hand marijuana smoke or eating food that contains poppy seeds).


Significance of Hair Testing

Once a drug is embedded in hair it appears to be stable indefinitely, although concentration diminishes somewhat over time. (Cocaine metabolite has, for example, been detected in hair from a pre-Columbian mummy more than 500 years old.) This is an obvious advantage over other methods ofDRUG TESTING, such as urinalysis, which can detect drugs ingested only within the past few days. Depending on length, hair analysis can determine drug use from months to years in the past. Hair is also easily collected and stored. If more testing is required, another sample may be easily obtained.

One disadvantage of hair analysis is that it won't reveal drug use during the three to five days before testing, since hair does not grow quickly enough to show this. Hair analysis is also more expensive than urinalysis, and the results take longer to be determined. The two tests can always be used in combination, however, to give a more complete picture of the individual's past and present drug use.


Is It Fair?

Some groups have raised concerns that hair testing may be biased against minority subjects because coarser, darker hair tends to trap more environmental drug residue than lighter, thinner hair. Hair testing labs say that their processes, which remove melanin from samples, removes any chance of distinction or discrimination by race or ethnic group. The Society of Forensic Toxicologists disagrees, arguing that even removing the pigment from hair does not eliminate the risk of bias in analysis.

Definitive proof of drug use, however, is based not on environmental exposure to drugs, but on the metabolites incorporated into the hair shaft. These indicators can only appear when the subject's body has metabolized the drug. The results of hair analysis are widely used and accepted by courts, law enforcement bureaus, and government agencies, including Federal Reserve banks and more than 80 state programs and medical research projects.


See Also

Industry and Workplace, Drug Use In; Military, Drug and Alcohol Abuse in the U.s.)


Bibliography

http://www.bookrags.com/other/drugs/...s-edaa-02.html