FROM THE FOUNDATION

All Over the Map

Newly updated to include breast cancer, prostate cancer, and spine procedures, this CHCF-sponsored research shows that practice patterns vary dramatically from place to place.

Medi-Cal Transforms

Medi-Cal is the main source of health insurance for one in five Californians. An updated report gives an overview of the program's key features, describes how the program is evolving, and examines the challenges ahead.

Obama Care in the Second Term

CHCF is a long-time sponsor of the UC Irvine Forecast Conference. A webcast of this year's conference on health policy in President Obama's second term is now available.

Public Health

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Northern Calif. Counties Ranked Highest for Overall Health

California's northern counties ranked highest for overall health in the state, according to a report released Tuesday by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, U-T San Diego reports (Lavelle, U-T San Diego, 4/3).

The study used government data to rank more than 3,000 U.S. counties based on health indicators such as drinking, obesity, physical inactivity, smoking and premature death (Tavernise, New York Times, 4/3).

County Rankings

According to the report, the top five California counties for overall health were:

  1. Marin;
  2. Santa Clara;
  3. San Benito;
  4. Placer; and
  5. San Mateo (U-T San Diego, 4/3).

The lowest-ranking California counties for overall health were:

  • Siskiyou, ranking 54th.
  • Del Norte, ranking 55th; and
  • Trinity, ranking 56th.

Some California counties were not ranked (2012 County Health Rankings, 4/3).

State Tobacco Rankings

Julie Willems Van Dijk -- a study researcher -- said that findings show California's tobacco laws are among the toughest in the U.S. According to the report, California had the second-lowest smoking rates in the U.S. after Utah (U-T San Diego, 4/3).

Reader Comments:
  • 4
  • 04/04/2012
  • Tom Johnson

Another "dah" report. Which counties have the highest per-capita income? Which counties have the highest educational levels? Which counties have the lowest unemployment rates? Which counties have the most health care providers per 1,000 population? etc. My guess would be the same counties that rank highest in overall health. Not much new here.

  • 3
  • 04/04/2012
  • Barbara Webster-Hawkins

What an unfortunate choice of headline. As Bill Hall noted above, it missed the socioeconomic point. And where in California are Siskiyou, Trinity and Del Norte counties (the study's lowest ranked counties for overall health)? Also in Northern California!

  • 2
  • 04/04/2012
  • Bruce Kaechele

Interesting that N CA has the highest overall health when another article in your web based news services ran a story on obesity with the following comment: "Napa County had the highest obesity rate in the Bay Area and that Solano County's obesity rate was significantly higher than the rest of the state."

  • 1
  • 04/03/2012
  • Bill Hall

Perhaps the article should have been entitled "Most Affluent Counties Ranked Highest for Overall Health."



Readers are invited to send feedback to: chl@chcf.org

Click to register for California Healthline