Washington state ranks 10th healthiest in nation
Washington is the 10th healthiest state in the U.S.A., according to a new report.
The report, America’s Health Rankings, has been compiled for 19 years by the United Health Foundation.
Vermont was ranked the healthiest state followed by Hawaii, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Utah.
Louisiana was found to be the least healthy state, followed by Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
High obesity rates, high numbers of uninsured, and large numbers of children living in poverty and other factors contributed to their low ranking.
Besides standard health measures, such as life expectancy and infant mortality rates, the Foundation looks at other facts that influence health, such as smoking, immunization and obesity rates, the number of children living in poverty, the percentage of the population with health insurance, and differences in health between ethnic and racial groups and between regions within a state.
According to the report Washington’s strengths include:
- Low prevalence of smoking at 16.8 percent of the population
- Low per centage of children in poverty at 11.6 percent of persons under age 18
- Low infant mortality rate at 4.8 deaths per 1,000 live births
- Low rate of preventable hospitalizations at 51.9 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
However, the report notes that over the past year the percentage of children living in poverty incrased 11 percent in Washington.
Key challenges facing the state:
- Low immunization coverage with 73.9 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months receiving complete immunizations
- Low high school graduation rate with 75.0 percent of incoming ninth graders who graduate within four years
- Many poor physical health days per month at 3.6 days in the previous 30 days
- High geographic disparity within the state
Health disparities between races and ethnic groups also persist.
Among non-Hispanic blacks, 10.6 percent of newborns are low birth weight, compared to just 5.9% among Hispanics. And while the overall rate of death from cardiovascular disease is 263.7 deaths per 100,000 population, the cardiovascular death rate among blacks was considerably higher at 329.7 per 100,000
While Washington improved its ranking rising from its 12th place 2007 ranking, overall the health of Americans has failed to improve over the past four years. This compared to a 1.5 percent increase through most of the 1990s.
The report blames the lack of progress on such factors as rising obesity rates, persistent tobacco use and the growing number of people without health insurance.
To learn more:
- Read the report and view an interactive map on the America’s Health Rankings website.
- Download the report’s page on Washington State.
Related posts:
- Washington state health insurance plan will fail, analyst argues
- Washington law cuts number of children without insurance, Times Op-ed
- Global Initiatives in Washington State
- Healthcare Reform in Washington state – Book Review
- Blame the economy, not food for the US obesity epidemic, UW professor says
