United Health Foundation’s 2011 America’s Heath Rankings provides a state-by-state snapshot of population health based on 23 measures. The report finds that the country’s overall health did not improve from 2010-2011 after three years of gains. The lack of improvement stems from a balance between improvements and detriments across all 23 measures. Some improvements include the following:
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• Total smokers decreased to 17.3 percent of the U.S. population in 2011 — a 3.4 percent decline since 2010 and a 25.4 percent decline since 2001.
• Preventable hospitalizations also declined to 68.2 preventable hospitalizations per 1,000 Medicare enrollees in 2011 — a 3.4 percent decline since 2010 and a 17.3 percent decline since 2001.
• Cardiovascular deaths are down to 270.4 deaths per 100,000 in 2011 — a 2.8 percent decline since 2010 and a 22.2 percent decline since 2001.
However, these positive trends were offset by other “troubling” statistics, according to the report:
• In 2011, 27.5 percent of the adult population was obese — a 2.2 percent increase since 2010 and a 37.5 percent increase since 2001.
• Also, 8.7 percent of the population had diabetes in 2011 — a 4.8 percent increase since 2010 and a 42.6 percent increase since 2001.
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