Arkansas overall health ranking moves from 48 to 43, study finds
Posted on Thursday, December 4, 2008
While the country’s overall health remained stagnant, Arkansas was named one of this year’s most improved states in annual health rankings released Wednesday.
Arkansas jumped to 43 rd, up from 48 th last year.
It’s the first time in seven years Arkansas has risen out of the nation’s bottom five states in America’s Health Rankings.
It’s the 19 th year the report has been released by the United Health Foundation, a private, nonprofit health advocacy group based in Minnetonka, Minn. The foundation produced the report with the Partnership for Prevention and the American Public Health Association.
Thirty-six U. S. states had gains in their overall health scores, said Dr. Corinne Husten, interim president of the Washington, D. C.-based nonprofit Partnership for Prevention.
“The largest positive increases were in Arkansas, New Mexico and Kentucky,” Husten said.
Rankings are based on 22 factors, including rates of smoking, obesity, binge drinking, infant mortality and cancer deaths.
“We are pleased to see that our rankings are improving, but there is still much to do,” Paul K. Halverson, director of the Arkansas Department of Health, said in a statement.
Vermont was named the healthiest state for the second year in a row, followed by Hawaii, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Utah. On the bottom were Louisiana at 50 th, preceded by Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
The nation as a whole saw no improvements for the fourth year in a row, said Dr. Reed Tuckson, executive vice presi- dent of UnitedHealth Group and a United Health Foundation board member.
“We are not making the progress that we need to make,” Tuckson said.
Of particular concern is the nation’s smoking rate, which has hovered around 20 percent for the past several years, he said.
Rising obesity rates also contribute to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and certain cancers, Tuckson said. Forty-six million Americans — including about 500, 000 in Arkansas — don’t have health insurance, which means people can’t access adequate preventive care or treatment for chronic conditions, he said.
The nation’s lack of progress is particularly troubling when compared with the rest of the world, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.
“The United States spends millions of dollars on health care as a nation, but it does not see the benefits that should be expected from this investment,” he said.
The U. S. falls behind 18 industrialized countries for mortality rates for treatable health conditions and behind 27 countries with its average life expectancy of 69 years, according to World Health Organization statistics.
“When we look at this data from other nations it’s very clear that we really have a ways to go,” Benjamin said.
Some of Arkansas’ biggest improvements this year included a drop in smoking rates, children living in poverty and people without health insurance.
Halverson, with the state Health Department, said Arkansas continues to face challenges, such as a rising obesity rate, which contributes to increased diabetes, heart disease risk, stroke and kidney failure.
He attributed the drop in Arkansas’ smoking rate in part to use of money from a national tobacco settlement for smoking cessation and other health-related programs.
“Tobacco use is still the leading cause of death in Arkansas, and we must not let up,” Halverson said.
Tuckson said the poor economy could lead to worsening health conditions nationwide, as more people make poor health choices because of stress or lack of funds.
“The health of the nation being stagnant in good times is clearly of concern for the future,” Tuckson said.
More information is available at www. americashealthrankings. org.
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