Do you live in Vermont? If so, you are living in the healthiest state in America!
How about Louisiana? Unfortunately, it has been named as the country's unhealthiest state.
How are the rankings decided?
Assessors ranked all fifty states based on infant mortality, obesity rates, access to health insurance, crime rates and other factors. Last year, Mississippi ranked unhealthiest and Southern states in general rank lower, due to poverty, lack of health care and obesity factors, among others.
Louisiana has a high rate of smokers (which leads to many diseases like lung cancer, heart disease, and emphysema), one in five have no health insurance and one in three are classified as obese.
So what makes Vermont healthy?
Vermont is four percentage points lower in obesity than the national average and has a relatively low crime rate. The state is the third highest spender in health care and high school graduation rates are high. Vermont has been announced as the healthiest state in the country for 6 of the last seven years! As Southern states dominate "unhealthy states" rankings, New England and upper eastern seaboard states dominate the "healthy" positions.
Tell Us
Where do you live? Do you look around and see healthy people or do you think you live in a community that lacks exercise, healthy diets and good access to health insurance?
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Susan, I found this really interesting, and immediately wanted to go find information for the state I live in.
The study is in its 19th year and is done by the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention advocacy group.
Here's a page where you can download a snapshot of your state and/or the entire rankings for the nation:
http://www.americashealthrankings.org/2008/index.html
By doing this for Kansas, I found that the state's rank was 22, that it had risen from 23 last year, and that these were its strengths, challenges and changes in the last year (smoking decreased by 11 percent! You go, Kansans!)
Kansas Strengths:
•Few poor mental and physical health days
•High immunization coverage
•Low prevalence of smoking
Kansas Challenges:
•Low per capita public health funding
•Limited access to primary care
•Moderate rate of preventable hospitalizations
Kansas' Significant Changes:
• In the past year, the prevalence of smoking decreased by 11%
• In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty declined by 12%
• Since 1990, the incidence of infectious disease decreased by 67%
• Since 1990, the rate of uninsured population increased by 39%
I also called up the snapshot of Texas, which told me that the state ranking was 46 (down nine from 37th in 2007). Here were its strengths, challenges and changes:
Texas strengths:
low prevalence of smoking at 19.3 percent of the population,
a low prevalence of binge drinking at 15.0 percent of the population,
a low rate of cancer deaths at 186.3 deaths per 100,000
population and a moderate infant mortality rate at 6.5 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Texas challenges:
a high rate of uninsured population at 24.9 percent,
a high percentage of children in poverty at 25.0 percent of persons under age 18,
a high incidence of infectious disease at 23.8 cases per 100,000 population
limited access to primary care with 95.0 primary care physicians per 100,000 population
Texas' changes:
In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 22.0 percent to 25.0 percent of persons under age 18.
In the past year, the prevalence of smoking increased from 17.9 percent to 19.3 percent of the population.
Since 1990, infant mortality rate fell from 9.3 to 6.5 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Since 1990, prevalence of obesity rose from 12.3 to 28.6 percent of the population.
Tell us
December 4, 2008 - 10:16amDid you look up your state? Were there things that surprised you?
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