Community Corner
New Hampshire Ranked 5th Healthiest State in America
Report shows decreases in smoking and cardiovascular-related deaths and improvements in high school graduation rates.
New Hampshire has been named the fifth healthiest state in the country in the 2013 version of the United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings report.
The report looks at various health indicators, such as obesity and smoking rates, and this year includes some new measurements such as deaths from substance abuse, disparity in health status, and dental care.
Last year New Hampshire, was ranked third initially, but changes to the model and how rankings were calculated were made by the United Health Foundation, dropping the Granite State to fifth.
New Hampshire is generally a healthy state though by most measures, according to a press release from the Department of Health and Human Services.
DHHS highlighted some of this year's report on New Hampshire:
- In the past year smoking prevalence decreased from 19.4 percent to 17.2 percent.
- Over the past 10 years the high school graduation rate has improved from 75.3 percent to 86.3 percent.
- In the past 10 years, the rate of cardiovascular deaths decreased by 42 percent from 310 to 218.9 per 100,000 population.
“We are lucky to be living in such a healthy state,” said Dr. José Montero, public health director at DHHS, “but there is more work to be done. Our immunization rate among children is second in the country, but it is not acceptable that we are seeing a busy year for cases of whooping cough. We still struggle too with a fairly high rate of obesity and diabetes as well as youth tobacco use. These cross-cutting issues require comprehensive approaches with appropriate and clearly identified strategies and funding, so we can successfully continue to work tirelessly on behalf of our population.”
The report is based on the perspective that, in addition to individual genetic predisposition to disease, healthiness is based on the interaction of four essential and controllable factors: everyday activities that affect health, the daily conditions in which we live, the availability of resources to promote and maintain health, and the clinical care we receive at physicians’ offices, clinics, and hospitals.
To read the entire report, visit www.americashealthrankings.org. For more information about any of the issues addressed, visit the NH Department of Health and Human Services website at www.dhhs.nh.gov.
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