National Report Gives Nation its Annual Health Check-Up,
Ranking Colorado 16th
December 5, 2006, DENVER - United Health
Foundation, together with the American Public Health
Association and Partnership for Prevention, Tuesday released
the 17th annual America's Health Rankings: A Call to Action
for People & Their Communities™. Americans as a whole are
only 0.3 percent healthier than they were at this time last
year, according to this year's report. This increase is
significantly lower than the nation's average annual
improvement of 1.5 percent documented between 1990 and 2000,
and only keeps pace with the 0.3 percent average annual
national improvement since the year 2000. The report also
observes that the United States continues to trail other
nations in important statistics such as healthy life
expectancy and infant mortality. This year, the report
ranks Minnesota as the healthiest state in the nation for
the fourth year in a row. Vermont comes in second, followed
by New Hampshire, Hawaii and Connecticut. Colorado ranks
16th, up from 17th in 2005. Louisiana is ranked as the
least-healthy state, while Mississippi (49), South Carolina
(48), Tennessee (47) and Arkansas (46) complete the bottom
five. However, despite where an individual state ranks,
each state has its own set of successes and challenges.
About Colorado Strengths: Colorado's strengths
include high immunization rates, with an 8 percent increase
in the past year; a low prevalence of obesity at 17.8
percent of the population; a low rate of cancer deaths at
180.6 deaths per 100,000 population; few poor physical
health days at 3 days in the previous 30 days; and a low
rate of deaths from cardiovascular disease at 274 deaths per
100,000 population. Additionally, since 1990, the prevalence
of smoking decreased by 31 percent. Challenges Colorado,
like the rest of the nation, could be healthier. According
to the report, the challenges specific to the state include
limited access to adequate prenatal care, with 68.6 percent
of pregnant women receiving adequate prenatal care and a
high rate of uninsured residents at 17 percent, which is an
increase of 33 percent since 1990. Additionally, in the past
year, the percent of children living in poverty increased by
26 percent. Significant Changes
- In the past year, immunization coverage of children ages
19 to 35 months receiving complete immunizations increased
from 77.1 percent to 83.4 percent.
- In the last year, the percentage of children in poverty
increased from 11.7 percent to 14.7 percent of persons under
age 18.
- Since 1990, the prevalence of smoking decreased from
28.6 percent to 19.8 percent of the population.
- Since 1990, the rate of uninsured people increased from
12.8 percent to 17 percent.
Clinical Care The cost of clinical care in Colorado is
moderate compared to other states, and the quality of care
is high. To view Colorado in comparison to other states, see
pages 111-114 of the report. To view the entire report,
please visit www.americashealthrankings.org or
www.unitedhealthfoundation.org. About America's Health
Rankings The purpose of America's Health Rankings™ is to
provide information that encourages an informed public
conversation about health status and to stimulate
appropriate personal behaviors, community interventions,
public and health policies, and clinical care delivery.
America's Health Rankings™ combines 18 individual measures
classified within these four determinants of health into one
comprehensive view of the health of all 50 states separately
and collectively. It employs an expertly designed
methodology that weights the contributions of various
factors such as smoking, preventable disease, high school
graduation rates, children in poverty, disease and death
rates, and other factors to determine a community's health.
The report's methodology was developed and is
periodically reviewed by a panel of top public health
scholars, led by the School of Public Health at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The report is
based on data from the U.S. departments of Health and Human
Services, Commerce, Education and Labor; the National Safety
Council; and the National Association of State Budget
Officers. ---30---
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