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posted by mrpg on Tuesday July 17 2018, @10:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the q.e.d. dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Severe infections leading to hospitalizations during childhood are associated with lower school achievement in adolescence,reports a study in the July issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal (PIDJ).

In the nationwide study of nearly 600,000 Danish children, higher numbers of hospitalizations for infections were associated with a reduced probability of completing ninth grade, as well as with lower test scores, according to the new research by Ole Köhler-Fosberg, MD, of Aarhus University Hospital and colleagues. An expert commentary discusses the role of vaccination in the relationship between investment in health and protecting and improving "human capital."

The study included nationwide data of 598,553 children born in Denmark between 1987 and 1997. The researchers looked at two measures of childhood infections: hospital admission for infections, an indicator of moderate to severe infections; and prescriptions for anti-infective drugs (such as antibiotics) in primary care, reflecting less-severe infections.

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by requerdanos on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:02PM (8 children)

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:02PM (#708330) Journal

    If the infection warrants continued, constant, professional observation rather than "bring him back in if it gets any worse or you start to see <blah>", it's because the child is in significant danger of dying before he can be returned to the hospital. Doing so for anything less is astonishingly wasteful of medical resources. (emphasis added)

    Let's think about that. It doesn't look like you did, but let's do it now.

    There are many outcomes of an illness. Brain damage, loss of hearing or vision, or other permanent injury due to mismanagement of high fever. Loss of body parts, especially extremities, from mismanagement of infection. Things like that. Medical doctors (specially trained people who look after the health of humans) are trained to know more often than not when an illness needs watching to avoid such things.

    Under the "TMB system" you have outlined above, it is "astonishingly wasteful" to prevent easily preventable permanent, serious impairment in children--only death itself might warrant preventing, and that not unless it meets the "TMB standard" of statistical likelihood.

    Therefore, it is a bad system and if someone genuinely believes in it, he is probably a bad person.

    Having to spend several months wages on an overnight stay is...another discussion entirely.

    Yes, but.... If you live in one of the advanced nations such that seeking proper medical care for a condition inherently involves such an expenditure, then often it's the same discussion, weighing "can I afford it" vs. "should the child receive medical care." I know how you would decide it (avoiding astonishing waste and all), but for many people, it's a genuine conundrum.

    My favorite Trump protest sign: All in all you're just another prick with no wall

    Yeah, that one's pretty good.

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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:16PM (3 children)

    High fever also carries a significant risk of death with it, as a general rule. Significant risk of loss of body part or senses would also be a perfectly acceptable, though even that's something that's more likely to be able to be monitored at home. It's not usually something that's going to run out of control before you can make it to the nearest hospital unless you live pretty far out in the sticks.

    I know how you would decide it...

    You really don't. I have no problem with legitimate medical needs being taken care of but I absolutely have a problem with pointless hand-holding at extreme expense.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Tuesday July 17 2018, @08:33PM (2 children)

      by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 17 2018, @08:33PM (#708506) Journal

      I know how you would decide it...

      You really don't.

      Fair enough. I should have said "I know how you are saying that you would decide it". I only know what you said, not what you probably should have said.

      • (Score: 3, Touché) by krishnoid on Tuesday July 17 2018, @09:47PM

        by krishnoid (1156) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @09:47PM (#708530)

        I only know what you said, not what you probably should have said.

        You sure that's what you meant? You're on the Internet, you know.

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday July 18 2018, @03:18AM

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday July 18 2018, @03:18AM (#708639) Homepage Journal

        I thought I was fairly clear. There's a distinct possibility you're seeing what you want to argue with rather than what's there. It's a common failing among us human types.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday July 17 2018, @06:32PM (3 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @06:32PM (#708457) Journal

    “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” -- Benjamin Franklin

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday July 17 2018, @08:40PM (1 child)

      S'true but prevention almost never requires a hospital stay.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Tuesday July 17 2018, @11:58PM

        by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 17 2018, @11:58PM (#708582) Journal

        “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” -- Benjamin Franklin

        prevention almost never requires a hospital stay.

        Indeed, if you've been admitted to hospital for something, whether illness or injury, at that point we must acknowledge that we've failed to prevent the illness or injury, and now we are down to treating it, in search of our particular pound of cure.

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 18 2018, @12:02AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 18 2018, @12:02AM (#708585) Journal

      An ounce of prevention every day makes 22 pounds of prevention/year - William Shatner.

      This is what those vitamin/supplement peddlers won't throw it in your face.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford