Health Survey: Americans are living longer but getting sicker

Health Survey: Americans are living longer but getting sicker (Alberta Times) According to the annual US Public Health Survey, Americans are living longer because...

Health Survey: Americans are living longer but getting sicker (Alberta Times) According to the annual American Public Health Survey, Americans are living longer, and deaths from heart disease and cancer have decreased, but the number of patients with chronic diseases (diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure) has increased. America’s Health Rankings 2012, sponsored by the American Public Health Association, Prevention Partners and the Public Health Foundation, highlights disturbing levels of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and sedentary behaviors. Thanks to medical advances, more patients continue to live in unhealthy conditions. The report, which cited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical Association, the U.S. Census Bureau and the FBI, found that Vermont has topped the list for health status for six consecutive years. The report looks at 24 health measures, including tobacco and alcohol abuse, exercise, infectious diseases, crime rates, public health funding, access to immunizations, premature birth rates, cancer and heart disease rates. Louisiana has low alcohol abuse rates and high childhood immunization rates, but it ranks low because it scores low in 13 of 24 health categories, including obesity and diabetes. The report identifies the following unhealthy behaviors: More than a quarter of Americans (26.2%) are sedentary, meaning they have not done any physical activity outside of work in a 30-day period. Such people account for 36% in Mississippi and 35.1% each in Tennessee and West Virginia. ?27.8% of American adults are obese, defined as being about 30 pounds or more more than a healthy weight. There are 66 million obese people in the United States, more than the entire population of the United Kingdom. The state with the lowest obesity rate is Colorado, where more than 20 percent of the population is obese. Nationally, 9.5% of adults have diabetes, but in West Virginia, South Carolina and Mississippi it is more than 12%. ?30.8% of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, but only 22.9% in Utah and as high as 40.1% in Alabama. High blood pressure is a major factor in cardiovascular disease, which are problems related to the heart and blood vessels. Average life expectancy in the United States is now 78.5 years, premature deaths have dropped 18% since 1990, deaths from cardiovascular disease have dropped 34.6%, and cancer deaths have dropped 7.6%.