R.I. ranks 10th on list of healthiest states

Vermont is the healthiest state in the nation, while Massachusetts ranks third and Rhode Island 10th, according to a report by the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention.
The 20th anniversary edition of “America’s Health Rankings,” released in November, focuses on public health concerns and identifies specific changes needed in treating chronic diseases such as diabetes and other preventable problems.
Specifically, the report identifies tobacco consumption and obesity as “the two priorities that threaten the health of the nation.” It notes that while the rate of tobacco use dropped from 19.8 percent last year to 18.3 percent this year, it still contributes to about 440,000 deaths per year.
Obesity, meanwhile, has increased nearly 130 percent since the first edition of the report 20 years ago, the authors noted. Currently, 27 percent of the population is obese.
“The United States currently spends more per capita than any other nation on health care, including $1.8 trillion in medical costs associated with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, which can be linked to these national risk factors,” the authors note.
Looking at Rhode Island, the report identifies the state’s greatest strengths as the ready availability of primary care physicians – 169.6 per 100,000 residents, the third-best in the nation – and the relatively low prevalence of obesity – 22 percent, fourth-lowest in the nation.
Rhode Island’s worst problems, the report finds, are the high prevalence of binge drinking – 18 percent, which ranks the state at No. 42 – and the high rate of preventable hospitalizations – 78.5 per 1,000 Medicare enrollees, or 35th in the nation.
The report also lists several “significant changes” in the state, including a 16 percent increase in the uninsured population, a 34 percent drop in the incidence of infectious diseases in the past five years, and a 36 percent increase in immunization coverage in the past 10 years.
In addition, the report notes that since 1990, smoking has decreased by 50 percent in the state. Massachusetts, for its part, ranks No. 1 in two categories: lowest uninsured rate – 5.4 percent – and greatest availability of primary care physicians, with 190 per 100,000 residents – a noteworthy ranking in light of the fact that many in the state believe there aren’t enough primary care doctors to support the population, especially since the 2009 health reform brought thousands of new patients into the system.
Also listed among Massachusetts’ strengths were a low premature-death rate, No. 4 in the nation, and a low prevalence of obesity – 21.4 percent, second-best in the nation.
The Bay State’s top “challenges,” as identified in the report, are a high prevalence of binge drinking – 17.6 percent, better than Rhode Island, but still No. 37 – and a high rate of preventable hospitalizations – 78.7 per 1,000 Medicare enrollees, or No. 37 in the nation.
The report cites four significant changes in the state in recent years, starting with a 32 percent drop in the uninsured population in the last year. But the share of children in poverty has risen by 43 percent in five years, and obesity has increased by 50 percent in a decade. However, as in Rhode Island, smoking has declined – by 43 percent since 1990.
Despite the big declines in smoking nationwide, the report still identifies the fight against tobacco as the “biggest battle of the past 20 years,” and it notes that smoking “remains the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the country.”
Obesity, meanwhile, is identified as the “next national health battle,” with more than one in four Americans already obese and, if current trends continue, 103 million American adults – or 43 percent of the population – expected to be obese in 2018.
In a supplemental report commissioned by the United Health Foundation, “Future Costs of Obesity,” an Emory University professor, Kenneth E. Thorpe, estimates that if it’s left unchecked, obesity will add nearly $344 billion to the nation’s annual health care costs by 2018 and account for more than 21 percent of health care spending. &#8226

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