Country Living UK - October 2010

Findings: 34 studies satisfied the inclusion criteria, 22 from HIC and 12 from LMIC, including 112,027 participants, of which 9347 had peripheral artery disease. Sex-specific prevalence rates increased with age and were broadly similar in HIC and LMIC and in men and women. The prevalence in HIC at age 45-49 years was 528% (95% CI 338-817%) in women and 541% (341-849%) in men, and at age 85-89 years, it was 1838% (1116-2876%) in women and 1883% (1203-2825%) in men. Prevalence in men was lower in LMIC than in HIC (289% [204-407%] at 45-49 years and 1494% [958-2256%] at 85-89 years). In LMIC, rates were higher in women than in men, especially at younger ages (631% [486-815%] of women aged 45-49 years). Smoking was an important risk factor in both HIC and LMIC, with meta-OR for current smoking of 272 (95% CI 239-309) in HIC and 142 (125-162) in LMIC, followed by diabetes (188 [166-214] vs 147 [129-168]), hypertension (155 [142-171] vs 136 [124-150]), and hypercholesterolaemia (119 [107-133] vs 114 [103-125]). Globally, 202 million people were living with peripheral artery disease in 2010, 697% of them in LMIC, including 548 million in southeast Asia and 459 million in the western Pacific Region. During the preceding decade the number of individuals with peripheral artery disease increased by 287% in LMIC and 131% in HIC.

Humans are naturally social. Yet, the modern way of life in industrialized countries is greatly reducing the quantity and quality of social relationships. Many people in these countries no longer live in extended families or even near each other. Instead, they often live on the other side of the country or even across the world from their relatives. Many also delay getting married and having children. Likwise, more and more people of all ages in developed countries are living alone, and loneliness is becoming increasingly common. In the UK, according to a recent survey by the Mental Health Foundation, 10% of people often feel lonely, a third have a close friend or relative who they think is very lonely, and half think that people are getting lonelier in general. Similarly, across the Atlantic, over the past two decades there has been a three-fold increase in the number of Americans who say they have no close confidants. There is reason to believe that people are becoming more socially isolated.

Country Living UK - October 2010

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Much of the decline in new LPRs in FY 2020 is due to the fewer number granted to individuals living outside the country, as result of processing and other delays during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past decade, immigrants obtaining LPR status have been on average about evenly divided between those already living in the United States who are adjusting their status and those applying from abroad. But in FY 2020 the 268,000 new green cards issued to applicants abroad represented just 38 percent of the total, and a 41 percent decline from the nearly 454,000 issued in FY 2019. The overwhelming majority of these new arrivals (82 percent) were immediate family members of U.S. citizens and LPRs. 2ff7e9595c