Health News and Information

Most states also have laws that protect the citizens of that state against discrimination on grounds of handicap. Whether HIV infection is included in a state’s definition of handicap depends on the state: the laws that apply to people with HIV infection, needless to say, vary from state to state. The state laws against discrimination on grounds of handicap are often different from the federal laws. Some people with HIV infection find it useful to pursue claims of discrimination under either federal or state laws, or under both.     (Note: Some laws use the word handicap; others use the word disability. The two words mean the same thing.)     In general, state laws against discrimination govern such issues as your right to public accommodations, your right to housing and employment, your right to confidentiality, and your medical rights.     Your right to public accommodations-Public accommodations are more important than they sound. A public accommodation is any place open to and serving the public. Exactly which places are defined as public accommodations vary from state to state: some states include doctors’ offices, for instance, and some do not. Depending on the state, then, public accommodations can include schools, doctors’ offices, hospitals, hospices, barber and beauty shops, nursing homes, funeral homes, public transportation, restaurants, and hotels. Any place defined as a public accommodation cannot discriminate according to race, sex, creed, color, or (depending on the state) handicap. In most states, AIDS is defined as a handicap. In some states, having HIV infection but not AIDS may also be defined as a handicap.     Although all laws governing the right to public accommodations are similar, they will differ in detail according to the state. In some states, for instance, beauty shops are not allowed to treat someone with a contagious disease, and since HIV infection is contagious, those states could conceivably bar a person with that virus from a beauty shop. This is, however, an obviously unrealistic use of the word contagious, since the type of exposure that occurs in beauty shops carries no risk of transmitting HIV.     To find out the laws in your state, ask a lawyer. Lawyers can also draw up wills and help sort out problems with the Social Security system and with insurance companies.     Another source of information about discrimination is an agency called, in some states, the state human relations commission. In other states, it is called the state civil rights commission. If you think you have been denied public accommodations because of your HIV status, file a complaint with the state human relations or civil rights commission, and they will investigate. You will not need a lawyer to file a complaint. You will, however, need to be a pest, because agencies move slowly. You also need to remember that filing such a complaint will involve giving up the confidentiality of your HIV status.*198\191\2*

The effect of lowering your cholesterolYou go to the doctor for a checkup. A blood test reveals a total cholesterol level of 260 mg/dl. You carefully and consistently adjust your diet and exercise. When your cholesterol is rechecked in 6 months, it is 208 mg/dl. Because that is a decrease of 20 percent, your predicted risk for the development of coronary disease has decreased by 40 percent if you maintain the improved level.Discouraging and encouraging facts about cholesterolApproximately 55 percent of American adults have a total cholesterol level of more than 200 mg/dl.If your total cholesterol is 300 mg/dl, the risk for development of coronary disease is double what it would be if your total cholesterol were 150 mg/dl.The risk of dying from coronary disease if your total cholesterol is 300 mg/dl is four times what it would be if your total cholesterol were 180 mg/dl. Dietary measures alone can usually reduce the average LDL cholesterol by about 15 percent or more. Dietary measures are less likely to be effective if the triglyceride level is normal, though.A 10 percent reduction in cholesterol level results in a 20 percent reduction in future coronary risk. A 1 mg/dl increase in HDL cholesterol reduces your risk of coronary disease by 2 to 3 percent. Aggressive life-style modification, including cholesterol reduction, can cause at least a little reversal of coronary artery blockage in about one of three people.*244\252\8*

From a health perspective, benefits are most obvious if you never begin smoking in the first place. If you do smoke, however, the gains from stopping are enormous. After you quit, the risk of heart disease from smoking drops dramatically within about 2 years. Although your risk probably will never be as low as if you had never smoked, it can certainly approach that level.Researchers have found that if you smoke two packs of cigarettes per day your risk of death from heart disease alone (not considering death from other causes or ill health not resulting in death) is double that if you never smoked. If you stop smoking (and do not resume), the risk of death from heart disease is reduced to 1.3 times what it would have been if you never smoked.Even among relatively older individuals, there is a dramatic advantage to discontinuing cigarette use. For example, if you are older than 50 and stop smoking, the chance of dying from any cause is reduced by one-half during the next 15 years. The risk of dying of heart disease decreases by about 30 percent. Recent studies have shown that smokers older than age 60 could add 5 to 7 years to their lives by quitting. It is never too late to quit.*235\252\8*