During 2004--2007, falls were the leading cause of injury, accounting for nearly 40% of all injuries and more than twice as many injuries as any other cause. Falls were the leading cause for both males and females, but the age-adjusted injury rate for falls was 17% higher among females than males. In contrast, the age-adjusted injury rate for being struck was 35% lower among females than males, and the injury rate for being cut or pierced was 50% lower among females than males.

To examine the prevalence of insufficient rest or sleep in all states, CDC analyzed BRFSS data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia (DC), and three U.S. territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands) in 2008. This report summarizes the results, which showed that among 403,981 respondents, 30.7% reported no days of insufficient rest or sleep and 11.1% reported insufficient rest or sleep every day during the preceding 30 days.

During 2003-07, among adults aged ≥65 years, the poorest (<100% of the poverty threshold) were approximately twice as likely to need help with ADLs as the least poor (≥300% of the poverty threshold). Older adults were more likely to have 3-6 ADLs than 1-2 ADLs, except for the poorest group where the difference was not statistically significant.

JHA, a division of Gen Re LifeHealth, is pleased to release the results of the 2009 U.S. Group Life and Group Disability Mid-Year Market Surveys. These leading industry benchmark surveys cover Group Term Life (Basic Term Life and Voluntary Term Life), Short Term Disability (STD) and Long Term Disability (LTD) sales and earned premium for the first half of the year.

Summary report provided at the JHA site. Mid-year summary and 2008 Individual summary report available as well.

Prior years' (2006 and 2007) summaries available at http://www.jhaweb.com/jsite/research/studies.aspx.

The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) was initiated in 1987 and is an ongoing state- and population-based surveillance system designed to monitor selected maternal behaviors and experiences that occur before, during, and after pregnancy among women who deliver live-born infants in the United States.

To update 2006 state-specific estimates of cigarette smoking, CDC analyzed data from the 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey and examined trends in cigarette smoking from 1998--2007. Results of these analyses indicated substantial variation in current cigarette smoking during 2007.

From the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review.

New from the Morbdity and Mortality Weekly Review.

To characterize trends in premature mortality attributed to asbestosis in the United States, CDC analyzed annual underlying cause-of-death data for 1968-2005, the most recent years for which data were available. This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated that annual years of potential life lost before age 65 years (YPLL) attributed to asbestosis increased 64%, from an average of 146.0 YPLL per year during 1968--1972 to 239.6 per year during 2001-2005 (regression trend for the 5-year moving average, p<0.001), for an overall total of 7,267 YPLL (mean per decedent: 6.2) over the entire period. These results demonstrate that asbestosis-attributable YPLL continue to occur and that efforts to prevent, track, and eliminate asbestosis need to be maintained.

Downloadable charts and data on a wide variety of topics. Some examples:

- Top ten countries in life and non-life insurance
- Age distribution of Asia, Europe and North America, in %, 1950-2050
- US long-term care insurance: in-force premiums
- Life business development by region
- Life insurance growth, penetration and density by region
- The world's top health underwriters by net premiums earned, 2006
- Securitization - new opportunities for insurers and investors

The percentage of adults aged >25 years whose health was reported as excellent or very good increased with increased levels of education. Persons with a bachelor's degree or higher (73.1%) were nearly twice as likely to be reported as being in excellent or very good health as persons with less than a high school diploma (37.9%). Persons with less than a high school diploma were most likely to be reported as being in fair or poor health.

From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), United States, 2006.