EXECUTIVE HEALTH NEWSLETTER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-05077A000100090023-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 26, 1999
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: April 1, 1972
• Content Type: REPORT

April 1972
With this first edition, we hope to inaugurate a short newsletter, including points of
importance as regards -the Executive Annual Physical Program: health, physical fitness,
and general well-being. Editions will come out every two months.
In the future, we hope to have short articles on points of importance for the health
of our executives. There will be a section including facts of general medical interest.
Finally, we hope to inaugurate a question and answer section.
Annual Physical Examination.
It might be of interest to review what is done
in our current executive annual physical examina-
tion. Currently, our examinations are done in three
stages, and often because of additional studies, will
include extra stages.
The first stage consists of laboratory screening,
which includes visual examination for near and
distant vision, a hearing test which measures hear-
ing changes in the speech frequencies, and a tono-
metric examination which is done to detect early
stages of glaucoma (increased pressure within the
eye than can be asymptomatic but can lead to
visual loss).
The laboratory studies include a complete uri-
nalysis in which the urine is examined for albumin,
sugar, and microscopically for the presence of cells
and bacteria. Blood studies are done and include
hematocrit, which will detect anemia, a blood test
of thyroid function, and then 12 determinations on
our SMA 12/60 Autoanalyser. These latter deter-
minations are done automatically and results are
printed out on a graph form as well as directly
typed out. On the next page you will see an example
of the type reading the physician receives.
The various measurements done on the blood
include:
1. Calcium and phosphorus which reflect bone
metabolism.
2. Glucose, the determination
which will detect diabetes and
diabetes.
3. BUN (blood urea
of kidney function.
of blood sugar
early stages of
nitrogen) which is
4. Uric acid, which gives a reading on the pos-
sibility of gout and may also be altered by certain
medicines.
5. Cholesterol readings, which parallel possible
arteriosclerosis.
6. Total protein and albumin which reflect the
general well-being of the body and detect diseases
of the liver and bone marrow.
7. Bilirubin, a reflection of bile pigments in blood
which may detect alterations in liver function and
also abnormalities in which blood corpuscles are
being destroyed too rapidly.
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altered by changes in bone metabolism and liver tory studies are available for the physician to
. disease. -1-3
9. LDH and SCOT, enzymes which may reflect
heart disease, liver disease.
review; m a Mon, a chest X-ray has been done
and an electrocardiogram has been taken which
is now being interpreted by computer.
HEALTH TOPICS
Factors Favoring Development of Coronary
Artery Disease.
The risk factors favoring the development of
coronary artery disease are recognized to be hyper-
tension (high blood pressure), smoking, obesity,
increased blood lipids (cholesterol and triglycer-
ides ), lack of exercise, elevated blood levels of uric
acid, diabetes mellitis, and a family history of coro-
nary artery disease. In all cases except the family
history, these risk factors can be reversed or re-
duced through medical therapy, self-discipline, and
changes in habits. Recognition of these risk factors
is obvious in some cases and requires medical and
laboratory examinations in others. An awareness of
these factors and vigorous attempts to reverse them
are strongly recommended. Discussions of these
risks and other related problems will appear in
future newsletters.
Impact of Heart Disease in the United States.
Coronary artery disease affects over 20 million
people in the United States. Each year, more than
600,000 persons die from myocardial infarction, or
"heart attack." More than half of these persons die
before reaching medical care. The total cost of
illness exceeds ten billion dollars each year. Over
50 million man-days of production are lost each
year because of coronary atherosclerotic heart
disease. Gradually progressive, supervised physical
activity programs following heart attacks have been
instituted in 1,500 patients at Grady Memorial
Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, and have allowed a
more rapid return to normal living. Early ambula-
tion has been helpful both psychologically and
physiologically in most. It has been estimated that
if the duration of hospitalization for each patient
with a heart attack could be safely decreased by
just one day, in the course of a year, it would
reduce the cost of medical care in this country by
400 million dollars.
Alcohol May Be Harmful to the Cardiac Patient.
A Fordham Hospital group in New York has
found that ten heart patients pumped less blood
one-half hour after drinking two ounces of 86 proof
whiskey compared to- pre-drinking levels. Four non-
cardiac patients pumped more blood after alcohol.
At Mount Sinai Medical School, muscle deteriora-
tion, possibly in the heart also, occurred in three
non-alcoholics given a fifth of 86 proof whiskey
every day for four weeks. Normalcy was returned on
cessation of drinking. It is concluded that in the
presence of heart disease, the drinking of alcohol
may be hazardous.
The Surgeon General's Report on the Effects of
Smoking on Non-Smokers.
The United States Surgeon General's new report
on cigarette smoking reinforces evidence of tobacco
links to lung cancer, unsuccessful pregnancy, and
coronary heart disease. It also describes the plight
of the non-smoker surrounded by tobacco smoke.
The burning of a fair amount of tobacco in a con-
fined space can clearly push the carbon monoxide
concentration to and over the threshold limits set
by Federal law for occupational exposure. There
is some risk, for example, for a non-smoker driving
in a car full of smokers. The levels of carbon mon-
oxide exposures are not too different from those that
have been associated with "altered hearing, visual
acuity loss, and a loss of ability to distinguish bright-
ness." At carbon monoxide levels similar to those at
an average party, heart disease patients show
symptoms of heart muscle oxygen lack. It is clear
that the smoker may place at risk not only himself
but also those around him.
Saccharin Danger Versus Safety.
The FDA has removed saccharin from the so-
called GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list
and has set the safe average adult intake at one
gram per day. This amount is the equivalent of
about seven 12 ounce bottles of diet soft drink. The
20 test rats which were studied and which in-
fluenced that decision received a diet of 5% sac-
charin for two years. For man, that would equal
875 bottles of diet cola a day. Three of the 20 rats
studied had signs of bladder tumor at the end of
the experiment; whether the tumors were cancerous
or not has not yet been determined.
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^ SECRET
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
Efforts in the Prevention of Coronary Artery Disease
FROM:
EXTENSION
NO.
Director of Medical Services
Room 1D4061 Headquarters
7711
DATE j 3 J 1g72
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
DATE
building)
OFFICER'S
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
RECEIVED
FORWARDED
INITIALS
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
1Deputy Director forSu
R
7D26
port
o"\
oom
Headquarter
'
3:
Returned per our telecon. I
believe it essential that we have a
3. Acting Director of Medical
revised paper for the Director by
Services 1D4061 HQS
1~~Z
27 June 1972.
4.
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{
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5
J0in
. Coffey
Att: Memo dtd 16 June 72 for DD/S
6.
fr D/MS, subj: Efforts in the
Prevention of Coronary Artery
Disease
7.
8.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
FOR
3-62 61 0 USEE-PREV DITIO S
SECRET
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CONFIDENTIAL ^ INTERNAL ONLY F-1 UNCLASSIFIED