20 Ways to Be Healthier

Frank Greve of Knight Ridder Newspapers has researched a pertinent topic for us all and provided this report ...

What preventive measures would keep us healthiest for the least money?

Former Surgeon General David Satcher led an alliance of health insurers, state health departments, academics and trade groups as they tried to answer that question by reviewing more than 8,000 preventive-medicine studies.

Below are their top 20 preventive measures in order of rank. Preventive measures that are ignored by more than half of those who would benefit from them are indicated by asterisks.

The list

1. Daily aspirin to prevent heart attacks and stroke in men older than 40 and women older than 50.*

2. Childhood immunizations for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, hepatitis B, etc.

3. Tobacco-use screening and brief counseling by doctors.*

4. Routine colorectal-cancer screening for adults 50 and older by any recognized method.*

5. Hypertension screening via routine blood-pressure tests and medication if necessary.

6. Annual flu shots for adults 50 and older.

7. Immunization of adults 65 and older against bacteria that cause pneumonia and related diseases.*

8. Screening of problem drinkers and brief counseling by doctors.*

9. Vision screening for adults 65 and older.*

10. Cervical-cancer screening for sexually active women and women older than 21.

11. Cholesterol screening for men 35 and older and women 45 and older.

12. Routine breast-cancer screening for women 50 and older, and discussion with women ages 40 to 49 to set an age to begin screening.

13. Routine chlamydia screening for sexually active women younger than 25.*

14. Calcium-supplement counseling for adolescent girls and women.

15. Vision screening for children younger than 5.

16. Routine folic-acid-supplement counseling for women of childbearing age to prevent birth defects.

17. Obesity screening for adults and high-intensity diet and exercise counseling for the obese.

18. Depression screening for adults.

19. Hearing-impairment screening for adults 65 and older.

20. Promotion of child-safety measures such as car seats, pool fences, bicycle helmets, poison control and curbs on scalding-water burns.

Talk about it

"Next time you're at the doctor, you can use this list to start a conversation about preventive health actions," said the study's co-author, Ashley Coffield. Coffield is senior analyst for the group, the Washington-based Partnership for Prevention.

Analysts quantified the health gains in terms of longer life and better quality of life for each measure. They also compared cost-effectiveness of each intervention. Finally, they combined the two rankings into one score that measures bang-for-the-buck for the top preventive-care options.

Of the 10 preventive measures that promise the greatest gains, six are ignored by more than half of Americans who would benefit from them, according to the study, reported Wednesday on the alliance website and published in the July issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.