"The old fashioned way is healthier"...duh...
Posted on 01/28/2005 2:26:49 AM PST by hocndoc
The Burden of Sex
For the first time, researchers have compiled a comprehensive tally of the health problems caused by sexual behavior in the United States, and it's not a pretty picture. Overall, they report that sexual behavior results in 3 times more premature death and disability in the U.S. compared to other wealthy countries. Epidemiologists have assessed the disability and death caused by sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the past, but that's only one part of the picture, says Shahul Ebrahim of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. STD infections can also increase the likelihood of a second infection, up the risk of cervical cancer, and cause infertility.
Ebrahim and colleagues reasoned that taking these factors into account, plus disabilities related to pregnancy complications and the psychological distress of unintended pregnancies, would provide a more comprehensive view of disability resulting from sexual behavior. Using data from a variety of sources, the team estimated the number of problems that could be traced back to sex for the entire U.S. population for 1998. For the same year, they calculated the number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)--a measure of productive life lost due to premature death or disability.
The researchers found that U.S. women bear the brunt--roughly 60%--of the adverse health events and DALYs resulting from sex. About two-thirds of the DALYs for women resulted from curable infections like chlamydia and their consequences, particularly infertility, the team reports in the February issue of Sexually Transmitted Infections. For men, HIV was by far the leading bugbear, accounting for more than half of the DALYs. Overall, sexual behavior accounted for 6% of the total DALYs for the U.S. in 1998, about 3 times what's been reported for other industrialized countries.
That's probably not surprising, given the higher incidence of HIV and unintended pregnancies in the U.S., says epidemiologist Ward Cates, president of Family Health International, a nonprofit in Raleigh, North Carolina. Studies that attempt to calculate the overall health costs of certain types of behaviors are valuable tools for policy makers and educators, Cates says. The take-home message from the current study, says Ebrahim, is that the vast majority of the disability could be prevented by practicing safe sex.
--GREG MILLER
Cervical cancer (and Pap smears) is due to a Sexually Transmitted disease - it could be said that it is an STD.
Safe sex is one partner in a mutually monogamous relationship - and, ideally for avoiding the Human Papilloma Virus that causes cervical cancer, there must be a couple of years between partners (in the hope of clearing the viral infection) or both partners would be virgins. The old fashioned way is healthier - surprise!
There has also been a recent article released that shows evidence that women who have subsequent children by the same man are less likely to have complications and have healthier children.
One organization, the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, urges sexually active young people who are not virgins to decide to take on "secondary virginity." They should decide that for their future happyness and health they will abstain from sex from now until marriage. Makes sense in light of the health consequences.
But, I do wonder how long before SEICUS and Planned Parenthood notice this announcement and claim that it's due to the Bush administration's influence?
This may not be one of the most popular items (or rants) that I've posted.
The website may require registration - but I think this section is free.
Denny Crane: "I want two things. First God and then Fox News."
Excerpt from Forbes Magazine article on the study:
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/01/26/hscout523654.html
An earlier survey had found that half of all deaths in the United States in 1990 were attributable to nine risk factors that included sexual behavior. That category alone accounted for 30,000 deaths. The researchers behind the new study didn't think this provided a complete picture of the health toll, given that sexually transmitted diseases are associated with other problems such as infertility, psychological trauma and stigma.
They set out to quantify the public health burden of sexually transmitted diseases in 1998 by looking at national data on sexual health and reproduction, surveillance systems for infectious diseases, hospital and outpatient statistics, birth and death records as well as published research.
They then calculated "adverse health consequences," such as infertility, cervical cancer, and HIV infections. They also factored in premature deaths and "disability adjusted life years" (DALYs), a figure indicating years of life cut short by premature death and loss of healthy living years as a result of disability.
In 1998, sexual behavior accounted for about 20 million "adverse health consequences" (equivalent to more than 7,500 per 100,000 people) and 29,782 deaths (or 1.3 percent of all deaths in the United States), the study found.
Sixty-two percent of the "adverse health consequences" and 57 percent of "disability adjusted life years" were among women. Curable infections and their consequences accounted for more than half of these health problems. Viral infections -- mostly HIV/AIDS -- and their consequences accounted for almost all deaths among men and women.
In terms of percentages, more men (66 percent) than women died due to sexually transmitted diseases. But if HIV/AIDS were not considered, then 89 percent of deaths attributed to sexual behavior would have been among women.
HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death among men, while cervical cancer and HIV/AIDS were the leading causes of death among women.
These estimates are probably conservative, the authors stated.
The burden of sex for the people with the burden of no brain.......
"The Burden of Sex"
It's a burden, but hey, somebodies gotta do it. :-)
Thank you for posting this, doc-I'm e-mailing a neighbor's son to FR to read it. He is a 17 year old high school senior who recently committed to "second virginity" when he became interested in a "good" girl in his church's youth group who intends to remain a virgin until marriage . He told me that he had decided to be more attentive to God's word, and that he was not going to have sex with any more girls until he met the "right" one and got married. He is going into the Army right after graduation, so I hope he keeps his determination in this.
When I go, I hope to die in my bed at the age of 96...shot by a jealous husband...
More proof that sex the way God designed it is the only way to go. Of course this article will be attacked and discredited by the Kinsey-brained left.
"It's a burden, but hey, somebodies gotta do it. :-)"
My first thought was a line for the movie Mr. Mom with Michael Keaton.. "You're doing it wrong."
I also agree with a previous post - it is a burden for people with no brain. Who would have ever thought homosexual behavior would cause hardship. Where could one possibly learn that? Hmmm. Oh, it's in the bible.
"When I go, I hope to die in my bed at the age of 96...shot by a jealous husband..."
At ninety-six (if the perp is of similar age), the shooter may be senile, shooting you from imagination of your actions. How about dying with your smiling great grand children around you.
You want them to watch?
LOL! Surely you're not that kinky ...
LOL! Surely you're not that kinky ...
If you don't die of motel syndrome first.
When I die, I want it to be peacefully in my sleep, like Grandpa. Not screaming and terrified, like the passengers in his car.
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