Friday 6 July 2007

After those statistics

After the observation that assessment for heart disease based on a study of an American town named Framingham overestimated the risk for men in Britain, and men and women in Germany, we now have a more accurate risk score called QRISK. The authors, however, note that
since the validation was performed in a similar population to the population from which the algorithm was derived, it potentially has a "home advantage." Further validation in other populations is therefore required.
One good place to try it out would be Hungary, which has surprisingly high rates of coronary death. 'Social distrust' and 'rival attitude' seem to be key factors.

After those statistics, try an interview with James Lynch, author of the excellent Broken Heart. One day I'll take a look at The Language of the Heart: The Body's Response to Human Dialogue and A Cry Unheard: New Insights into the Medical Consequences of Loneliness.

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