Report Ranks California 21st Among States for Overall Health
California is the 21st healthiest state in the U.S. this year, according to a new report from UnitedHealth Foundation, the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention ranks California, U-T San Diego reports.
Details of Report
For the report, researchers examined federal data on 31 health and socioeconomic indicators (Sisson, U-T San Diego, 12/10).
The report -- titled "America's Health Rankings" -- is designed to help lawmakers improve public health (California Healthline, 12/7/11)
Findings
California's ranking this year marked a slight improvement over 2012, when the state ranked 22nd in the report.
The categories where California ranked best were:
- 2nd for low percentage of adult smokers, at 12.6%;
- 2nd for low occupational fatalities, with 2.9 per 100,000 workers;
- 6th for physical inactivity, with 18% of the population being inactive;
- 6th for infant mortality, with 4.8 infant deaths per 1,000 births;
- 6th for cancer deaths, with about 172 per 100,000 residents; and
- 6th for premature death, with 5,873 years of life lost per 100,000 residents.
However, the state had low rankings in several other categories, including:
- 50th for air pollution;
- 44th for health coverage, with 18.8% of the population not having insurance;
- 32nd for childhood immunizations, with 66.8% of children immunized; and
- 30th for whooping cough, with 6.2 cases per 100,000 residents (U-T San Diego, 12/10).
The report also found that the percentage of Californians who are obese increased from 23.8% in 2012 to 25% this year, but the state still ranks 10th for obesity (America's Health Rankings report, 12/11).
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