Neuroscience 2008: Some NIH stats
The directors of each of the neuro-related National Institutes of Health convened for a press conference this morning. Those of us who were after hard news were a little disappointed, but I found the short talks a useful basis for the rest of the sessions, many of which I of course won't be able to get to given that the committee love to run at least six interesting things concurrently (like the Queen of Hearts, we are running to stay in the same place, but unlike her we cannot attend six impossible talks before breakfast).
Best for background was NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) director Tom Insel, who reminded us why many of the scientists at SfN do what they do: to help understand and treat neurological and mental illness. He gave us some sobering stats too: 90% of the 30,000 suicides in the US every year are due to mental illness; the average age at death of someone with a mental illness is 25 years less than a healthy contemporary, at 56 years of age; and while only 4% of the US population have a major mental illness, they smoke 44% of the cigarettes sold, hinting at the knock-on effects of diseases of the brain and mind on health in general.
So whilst a lot of the science here is fundamental in nature, it'll be useful to remember why it's being done - and where the dollars are coming from.
Comments
Kerri,
and while only 4% of the US population have a major mental illness, they smoke 44% of the cigarettes sold.
Is this really true? It seems startlingly high. I'd be interested in a citation that backs this up.
Eric
This JAMA paper is the source of Insel's stats, and has been used before by various NIH directors in talking about mental health and smoking - Ed.
Posted by: Eric Berger | November 18, 2008 12:33 AM