Untreated Chronic Disease Leading Cause Of Death Among Homeless

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 23 Oct 2007 - 8:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

The Washington Post on Monday examined how untreated chronic diseases have become the most common cause of death among homeless individuals. According to the Post, chronic diseases in most cases do not cause homelessness but are an "ingredient in the mix of crushing problems," and homelessness "has a way of magnifying" such illnesses because of the lack of a place to wash and store medications.

About one-third to one-half of the 750,000 homeless individuals in the U.S. have chronic diseases, and more than half lack health insurance. Homeless individuals have a life expectancy of between ages 42 and 52, according to National Health Care for the Homeless Council.

Jeff Singer, president and CEO of Health Care for the Homeless Maryland, said, "Homeless folks tend to live half as long as folks who have homes," adding, "It's not always because they freeze to death. The major cause is untreated chronic disease." In response, more organizations have begun to offer health care services for homeless individuals with chronic diseases (Otto, Washington Post, 10/22).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

• Additional
• References
• Citations