We welcome you to a new year and a new edition of
ReFlections, 69É«ÇéƬ’s global medical newsletter. As always, it
has been a pleasure to see many of you at recent industry
conferences and client events.
This edition starts off with a comprehensive review and
update in the form of a case review on kidney transplant
recipient morbidity and mortality. The article by Dr. Georgiana
Pascutiu, Medical Director, 69É«ÇéƬ, and a nephrologist,
highlights some of the relatively recent favorable changes in
long-term outcomes for these individuals.
Hezhong (Mark) Ma, Vice President and Actuary, 69É«ÇéƬ,
teams up with Dr. Kamran Khan, an infectious disease
specialist in Toronto, Canada and a consultant to 69É«ÇéƬ, to
present a comprehensive analysis and review of predictive
factors to strengthen insurer assessment of seasonal
influenza mortality variation. These variations can be quite
significant and can impact insurers’ anticipated mortality
experience. This article is interesting both from medical and
actuarial perspectives, so please be sure to share it with your
companies’ actuaries.
Focusing on health and living benefits insurance, Dr.
Daniel Zimmerman, Vice President and Medical Director,
69É«ÇéƬ, provides a Brief Report on sepsis. There is growing
awareness of this syndrome, both medically and in the
general public, and it is now considered a medical emergency
on par with stroke and heart attack. Insurance costs can be
high and insurers need to understand the epidemiology of this
critical, life-threatening condition.
This edition’s article about The Longer Life Foundation
(LLF) launches our celebration of the 20th anniversary of
LLF’s founding. Our interview with one of our veteran multiyear grant recipients, Dr. Luigi Fontana, co-director of the
Longevity Research Program at Washington University in St.
Louis, focuses on his innovative and world-leading research
in the field of caloric restriction and metabolism. His insights
and discoveries may someday materially impact our industry.
We would like to thank everyone who participated in our
readership survey which was conducted in the September
edition of ReFlections. The results will help us serve you better
and make ReFlections a more valuable resource for you.
Please enjoy this edition of ReFlections! We wish all of you,
our readers, health and wellness in the New Year.
In this Issue