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The Shape We’re In
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Business New Haven
2/18/2002
By:
Susan Cornell
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A decrease in the number of Americans who smoke and die in automobile accidents are largely responsible for the 14-percent hike in the nation's overall level of healthiness since 1990, according to an annual state-by-state study by the UnitedHealth Foundation.
For 2001, the study reports, Minnesota is the healthiest state in the nation, a position held by that state eight times in the past dozen years. New Hampshire ranks No. 2, followed by Utah, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
By contrast, Louisiana finished dead last, preceded by Mississippi (ranked No. 49), South Carolina (48), West Virginia (47) and Florida (46). Connecticut's No. 4 ranking last year marked an improvement from its ninth-place showing in 2000.
“America's Health: UnitedHealth Foundation State Health Rankings” analyzes the relative healthiness of the American population using information supplied by the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Department of Health, National Safety Council, U.S. Labor Department, U.S. Department of Education and the American Cancer Society.
The 2001 report shows a nationwide improvement in Americans' health over the most recent dozen years, including a 30-percent reduction in infant mortality, a 36-percent decrease in motor vehicle deaths and a six-percent drop in the number of people who smoke.
UnitedHealth Foundation Associate Director Susan M. Hayes points out that while “Connecticut is fourth this year up from ninth in 2000, even more impressive is that in the last 12 years, it has always been in the top ten states.”
Hayes attributes the improvement in rankings to the fact that “Connecticut's public health infrastructure has been successful in many areas,” she says. “This year, the state is in the top ten on ten of the 17 individual measures, with its lowest measure 28th for high infectious disease with 25.8 cases per 100,000 population.”
Also, Hayes notes, “In the last year, the prevalence of smoking decreased from 22.8 to 19.9 percent of the [state's] population, lack of health insurance improved from 12.6 to 9.8 percent of the population uninsured, and the infant mortality rate improved from 7.1 to 6.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.”
Those figures reflect a longer-term trend toward healthier lifestyles. “Since 1990, the prevalence of smoking has dropped from 29.6 to 19.9 percent of the population,” says Hayes. Over the same period, “Violent crime has decreased from 419 to 346 offenses per 100,000 population.”
The most significant negative, Hayes notes, is that the number of cancer cases has increased slightly, from 459.0 to 469.8 cases per 100,000 population, over the same period.
Not all the news is rosy. Connecticut did slip five positions in the high school graduation rankings, slipping from No. 20 to No. 25. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, based on 1998 to 1999 statistics, 71.8 percent of the state's ninth-graders graduate within four years and are considered regular graduates. The national average is 67.2 percent, down 0.6 percent from the prior year and far below the first half of the 1990s, when graduation rates consistently exceeded 70 percent.
Well, at least Connecticut is neither Georgia (last place) nor South Carolina (second to last), where fewer than 52 percent of ninth-graders don mortarboards within four years.
Minnesota captured top honors by scoring highest overall in categories measuring access to health care, disease, disability, mortality and occupational safety. It has been in the top three for all 12 years of the study. In 2001, Minnesota placed first in three measures, with the highest support for public health care, the lowest rate of premature deaths, and the lowest incidence of heart disease.
While we're no Land of 10,000 Lakes, Dr. Seuss might say of the Nutmeg State's rankings, “You're in pretty good shape for the shape you are in.”
The top 5 healthiest states in 2001
1. Minnesota
2. New Hampshire
3. Utah
4. Connecticut
5. Massachusetts
CONNECTICUT RANKINGS
2001 2000 1990
Overall Ranking 4 9 8
Lifestyle
Prevalence of Smoking 7 25 25
Motor Vehicle Deaths 3 2 2
Violent Crime 19 19 24
Risk for Heart Disease 9 7 9
High School Graduation 25 20 19
Access
Unemployment 2 12 4
Adequacy of Prenatal Care 3 3 4
Lack of Health Insurance 6 15 1
Support for Public Health Care 4 3 2
Occupational Safety and Disability
Occupational Fatalities 5 5 17
Limited Activity Days 10 23 10 *
Disease
Heart Disease 20 20 20
Cancer Cases 24 28 41
Infectious Disease 28 33 31
Mortality
Total Mortality 9 7 11
Infant Mortality 14 23 8
Premature Death 14 12 13
Source: America's Health: UnitedHealth Foundation State Health Rankings 2001 Edition © 2001 UnitedHealth Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
*Data sources and/or methodology have changed since initial rankings.
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