July 14, 2023

This Week

• Top of Mind - Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action Has Direct Impact on the Health of Black Americans
• New Alzheimer's Drug - Lecanemab
• For Proper Conditioning, You Have to Hit the Weights
• Low Iron Level More Common in Black Women and Girls
• Stay on top of your lipid levels!
• Exciting Update on Breast Cancer Survival!
• New RSV Vaccine
• What to Do If You Have a Headache

Top of Mind

Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action Has Direct Impact on the Health of Black Americas

The recent Supreme Court decision, which effectively eliminates affirmative action based on race in educational institutions, will have profound implications for our healthcare system and a direct impact on the number of untrained African American physicians. There is already a shortage of African American physicians, with only approximately 2.6% of the nation's doctors in 2019 and 7.3% of students enrolled in medical school in 2020 being African American.

Studies have shown that the presence of African American physicians significantly enhances the health of Black communities. AAWP is armed and ready to join the powerful movement and is underway to stand up against this and other decisions of the Supreme Court that jeopardize the health of those in our community.

Stay Healthy,

Dr. Mike

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Lecanemab, a new Alzheimer’s drug, works by removing a sticky protein from the brain that is believed to cause Alzheimer’s disease to advance. It is an effective 26% improvement in cognitive function and 37% decline in measures of daily function. It is relatively safe, cost $26,000 a year and is given IV.

In order for your exercise routine to be effective, you must include some supervised weight training. Without weight training, after 40, you lose 4 to 6 pounds of muscle mass per decade. I regret that I didn’t do much weight training in my workout routines and now I am trying to catch up, but not too fast.

Forty percent (40%) of women and girls have low iron levels that often go undetected. Black women and girls are 4 times more likely to be affected. Symptoms can be fatigue, dizziness, cold feet and hands. Get your iron levels checked regularly.

A new study over more than 4,000 people reaffirms that reducing your lipid levels (by whatever means possible - diet or medication) significantly lowers your risk of heart attacks, stroke, and cardiac deaths. Steer clear of certain oils, meats, and eggs. Better safe than sorry!

Thanks to breakthroughs in medicine, the risk of dying from Breast Cancer, within 5 years of diagnosis, has plummeted from 14% (in the 1990s) to just 5% now. Even more impressively, over 60% of women diagnosed between 2010 and 2015 had a 5-year risk of 3% or less! Hope in the fight against cancer is more alive than ever!

We have been waiting for a vaccine against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). Every child will get RSV. The infection is ugly. It causes coughing and respiratory distress that can last for weeks. 

The FDA has approved a vaccine recommended for older adults, those with underlying health conditions, such as heart or lung disease or weakened immune systems who are at a higher risk for severe disease caused by RSV.

Racial biases play a strong role in obtaining adequate headache care, so I thought I’d share some remedies if you have a bad headache.

• Take aspirin, such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen. 
• Apply ice packs or heat on your neck and head.
• Gently massage the muscles of your neck and scalp.
• Use saline washes or a decongestant medication if you have nasal congestion.
• If it recurs, keep a diary of where it hurts, how often you have it, what triggers it, what relieves it then call your doctor.

For more information, go to our website at www.aawellnessproject.org. or listen to our podcast at Blackdoctorsspeak.org on any podcast platform.

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DR. MIKE'S ETHNIC HEALTH REPORT