Staying alive risky business
Trail Daily Times (British Columbia) , Wed 26 Jan 2005
 Judy Toews

According to the Internet, there are risks in most things I do, including
drinking herbal tea, eating fish, riding a bicycle, making
investments, and (wait for it) using the Internet. I've decided against
taking up skydiving -- clearly, I'm already living  life on the edge.  From
the time we survive the risky process of being born to the day we  draw our
last breath, the challenge is to fully engage in life while  somehow
staying out of harm's way. It's a fine balance, isn't it?

While it's usually a good idea to look before you leap, sometimes there  is
nothing else to do but leap. In What is Safe? The Risks of Living in a
Nuclear Age, author David R.  Williams notes that Pascal's development of
probability theory in the mid-17th century was a turning point. After that,
scientists could calculate the likelihood of the occurrence of events and
compare one type of risky situation or action to another, all without help
from soothsayers.

Nevertheless, the perception of risk remains quite subjective and what is
threatening to me may seem perfectly safe to you.
Besides, most people tend to overestimate risks related to exceptional or
less common incidents while underestimating risks involving everyday
activities. Hence airplanes seem more dangerous than cars and tidal  waves
more deadly than cigarettes.
Enter the idea of risk factors: circumstances shown to increase the odds of
suffering an injury, disease, or other problem.

Much of what is written about health today is dominated by information
about risk factors, particularly the so-called "controllable" risk
factors. Want to be healthy? Pay attention to what you eat, get plenty of
exercise, lose weight, quit smoking, and, oh yes, try not to feel stressed.
The upside of all this information is that the public seems to be more
health conscious than ever. But there is a downside. The person diagnosed
with cancer after a lifetime of healthy living wonders: what did I do
wrong?

In fact, many people afflicted with life-threatening diseases don't appear
to have practised risky habits. Their only oversight may have been to
choose the wrong parents. Age, race, gender, and heredity can greatly
increase the odds of developing serious illnesses. Health experts today are
paying more attention to risky conditions such as poverty, powerlessness,
and lack of social support. Studies show people living in lower-income
areas are more at risk of heart disease than those in well-off
neighbourhoods. That's the case even when researchers take into account
tobacco use, physical activity, and body
weight.

And independent of lifestyle factors, people who are poor are also more
likely to succumb to diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and other
conditions.

While low income isn't thought of as controllable, Dr. Dennis Raphael of
York University explains that social policies related to rent control,
child benefits, and similar issues can help a great deal. In Sweden, for
example, where the GDP is lower than in Canada, child poverty has been
almost eliminated, thus reducing the overall risk of illness and injury in
that country.

Why isn't that common knowledge? Writing in the Globe and Mail, Andre
Picard recently took the media to
task for their poor coverage of health issues. After all, mass media are
key conduits of health information.

Regrettably, when it comes to health risks, the reports that shape public
opinion tend to be brief, short on context, and long on hyperbole. What's
more, Picard identifies a virtual lack of coverage of what he calls "the
greatest threats to health on the planet," namely poverty,
disenfranchisement, and an inadequate standard of living.

For me, that helps put health risks into perspective.

Judy Toews coordinates Population Health Communications in Interior
Health. Call her at 250 505-7223 or 1-877-221-3388 or e-mail
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