What should we conclude from this?

[David Baxter PhD]

I can see at least two valid conclusions one might draw from these data. What would you conclude?

 

[Banned]

Do you want us to actually give our conclusions for discussion or is it meant to be more thought-provoking?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Both but yes I am interested in what people conclude after looking at the data in the info graphic.


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[H011yHawkJ311yBean]

Generally speaking, it looks like some diseases could benefit if there was a redirection from other profits to them.

For example, there is a huge amount of deaths caused by heart disease, but when you look at the funding, breast cancer and prostate cancer has way more funding than pretty much anything by comparison, ratio-wise. There are more funds than deaths by a huge margin for those two cancers...

So a couple things noticed that I get from this chart:
- there are more deaths by heart disease than prostate and breast cancer
- there is way more funding for some diseases than others, and it looks like more diseases need way more for funding
- on the other hand, maybe it costs more to do certain trials, tests, research, treatments on the diseases that seem to get more funding

I am not sure I can draw a perfect conclusion with this one...

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I have three separate but linked thoughts/conclusions about this but I want to see how others interpret it first.

 

[Banned]

I think we are probably thinking the same things so I'm refraining from posting my thoughts for a bit.

 

[H011yHawkJ311yBean]

Are we trying to figure out why there is more funding for the cancers then there is for heart disease?

Also there sure are more deaths than funding for diabetes, for example... And more deaths than funding for COPD...

And if I am not mistaken, way more suicides than funding for that. I don't even SEE a yellow dot for the deaths from suicide.

Again, though, I don't know if it costs more to do research/drugs/therapy/chemo/etc for the cancers and maybe less funding is needed for other diseases... And I know depression is a condition that causes suicide (for one) but that's not even on the board. It's interesting that they don't just say "mental health issues that can lead to deaths." Is suicide considered a disease, now? I thought it was an unfortunate and preventable thing caused by mental illness or maybe in some rare cases, something else (I don't know what, desperation to escape a debt/public humiliation/etc)?

Also it says it's from the CDC. Do you know if the source of where you got that has links to show where the heck it got the research from?


Oh yeah, just noticed for ALS that the "Ice Bucket Challenge" in this year alone netted huge funding (if you consider there were way less deaths)... Mind you, why do they have stuff from all the others from 2012 or 2013? Why don't all of the diseases/funding show the differences in a graph chart instead over time, how much money/fatalities? Because mixing up the years like that is weird. If ALS, for example, had next to nothing in 2012 and 2013 and THEN in 2014 shot up because of the Ice Bucket Challenge, THEN I could conclude that the YouTube thing/social media was the most successful thing to get funding for a cause/disease.

Well hell, I already wondered why people aren't trying to do their own version of the "Ice Bucket Challenge" for other causes. Seems like we gotta do something better than Movember for prostate cancer... Like maybe if someone started a YouTube video of guys waxing off their Movember moustaches, that would definitely get some views... lol

And for COPD... I dunno, maybe someone could hold a note for 1 minute and then challenge someone to do it longer. Because someone with COPD sure can't sing a long note. "Singing for COPD" or something... Blowing bubbles? Who can blow the biggest bubble? (bubble gum, soap bubbles, whatever)...

Sounds like we gotta do something seriously amusing to get, like, a million views in 24 hours...

If I weren't so damn tired, I'd probably figure something out for Cancer...

ARGH! Congratulations. I now cannot turn my brain off... Must go now and think about something else... lol

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I'm not a big fan if these viral publicity stunts. To me it turns fundraising into a circus which trivializes the disease it's supposed to be helping.

But that aside, the question is why does there seem to be a negative correlation between morbidity and donations? What does that mean and what do we conclude from that observation?


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[PrincessX]

Wish I could say something different looking at this. One should consider also the time frame. COPD and heart disease for example have a long research history some of which specifically the COPD research has been successful in identifying disease factors and symptom management and has pretty much come to a point of stagnation now - they are not looking for evolutionary treatments, same way as in AIDS, which is a new disease with new treatments and expensive research. Some cancers are well researched due to the big numbers affected by them, other cancers are not researched at all. Mental health never had enough funding for a number of reasons, none of which make a lot of sense.

 

[H011yHawkJ311yBean]

Ice Bucket Challenge: ALS Foundation Admits Less Than 27% Of Donations Fund Research & Cures | RedFlagNews.com

[url]http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/als.asp
[/URL]

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Found some evidence to refute the first link...

How does that refute the first link? And what link do you mean?

 

[rdw]

What I read from the chart is that the money raised has more to do with the publicity campaigns surrounding the disease rather than the number of deaths from the disease. The other conclusion I see is that in the case of heart disease it remains the number one killer regardless of fund raising. Or regardless of education surrounding the disease but that is not in this data

 

[H011yHawkJ311yBean]

Ice Bucket Challenge: ALS Foundation Admits Less Than 27% Of Donations Fund Research & Cures | RedFlagNews.com


snopes.com: Where Do ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Donations Go?

Let me clarify: the first link I posted said the funds weren't being forwarded to patients or where patients needed. However the second link I posted shows that this is false, as per snopes.

The first link I saw floating around Facebook, so I was posting the snopes link under the comments just to make sure the people posting know that the link they posted was not from a reliable source.

You can remove my post if you want. At the moment I don't really care about anything. Maybe I misstated, maybe I shouldn't have posted it, I dunno. Maybe it doesn't belong on this thread. I apologize if I messed up somehow.

​

 

[David Baxter PhD]

You didn't mess anything up. I just didn't understand your post. Thanks for clarifying.


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