Health Rankings

635 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Childhood obesity american heart association

America's Health Ranking Report by the United Health Foundation is an annual report that focus's on behaviors, the environment and community, public and health policies, clinical care, and outcomes to provide a score that gives us a picture of the nation's overall health. Several measures are used to determine the overall health rankings. In 2013, Tennessee was ranked 42nd, down from 39th in 2012. Dr. Randy Wykoff explains that this is due to a change of the metrics used to calculate this years rankings. What he suggests is that if the same metrics were used in 2012 as in 2013, Tennessee would have been 42nd in 2012 as well. Therefore, Tennessee only looks worse on paper, rather than actually being worse in overall health.
The overall health scores are based on determinants as well as outcomes. Behavioral determinants include: smoking, binge drinking, drug deaths, obesity, physical inactivity, and high school graduation rate. Community and environmental determinants include: violent crime, occupational fatalities, infectious diseases, children in poverty, and air pollution. Public and health policy determinants include: lack of health insurance, public health funding, and number of adolescent and children immunizations. Clinical care determinants include: accessibility to early prenatal care, availability of primary care physicians and dentists, and preventable hospitalizations. Finally, several different outcomes are used to determine the overall score. Those include: development of diabetes, poor mental and physical health days, disparity in health status, infant mortality, cardiovascular disease, cancer deaths, and premature deaths.
These measures are weighted based on three criteria. Those criteria are: 1) W...

... middle of paper ...

...ears, the obesity data in 2012 and 2013 can't be compared to the previous years data because of the difference in metrics used to calculate the data.
And thirdly, based on the fact that cardiac heart disease has consistently been the number one cause of death in the United States, I believe that this is the third major health problem that Tennessee, as well as most other states, will have to face in the next decade. There was a sharp increase in the percentage of people diagnosed with heart disease in Tennessee from 2012 to 2013, from 5% to 7.2%, and although the heart disease data from before 2012 can't be compared to current data, there was still a sharp increase from 2012 to 2013. In summary, I believe that an increased number of children living in poverty, obesity, and heart disease are the three major health problems facing Tennessee in the next decade.

Show More
Related

  • Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social determinants of health (SDOH) are increasingly becoming a major problem of Public Health around the World. The impact of resources and material deprivation among people and populations has resulted in an increase in mortality rate on a planetary scale. Social determinants of health are defined as the personal, social, economic and the environmental conditions which determines the health status of an individual or population (Gardner, 2013). Today’s society is characterized by inequalities in health, education, income and many other factors which as a result is becoming a burden for Public Health around the world. Research studies have shown that the conditions in which people live and work strongly influenced their health. Individuals with high levels of education and fall within the high income bracket turn to have stable jobs, live in the best neighborhood and have access to quality health care system than individuals who have low education and fall with the low income bracket. This paper is to explain different social determinants of health and how they play ...

    Read More

  • Childhood Obesity in Lancaster County

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    A significant proportion of the children and youth of Lancaster are confronting an increasing danger. This is an issue that has short-term and long-term health complications like diseases and even social-emotional problems. This increasing issue I am referring to is childhood obesity. For instance, the Lancaster New Era newspaper states that “About 18 percent of youths in Pennsylvania are overweight and, according to preliminary data, the percentages are slightly higher than that in Lancaster County” (“Pa” D5). This issue is talked about in many articles trying to get the information out there.

    Read More

  • Health Problems For Kern County Health

    2838 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...county, which indicates that there is room for improvement in our health care system. Research studies have shown inside our community that these outside factors in our population increase our risk for developing chronic diseases. Minority groups, those with little to no health insurance, smokers, the overweight and obese population, people who live below the poverty line or have little socio-economic status, and those with low access to medical care. By being able to guarantee health care with the Affordable Care Act and to increase funding for social services such as Cal Fresh, Medicare, Medical and many other programs that our government has developed, we will then be able to help people who fall into those specific categories, as well as those who are genetically inclined to developing chronic diseases, and to ultimately be in control of our own health outcomes.

    Read More

  • Childhood Obesity in Mississippi

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the world strives for convenience and a fast-paced lifestyle, an epidemic of poor health is on the rise. With constant life struggles, fast food readily available, and little time for preparation, citizens of the United States are not paying attention to what they’re putting in their child’s mouths. The state of Mississippi has developed the highest percentages of childhood obesity in the United States. Although this percentage has decreased in recent years, the numbers are still astounding. The children of Mississippi are slowly being poisoned by their parent’s poor choices. Due to parent’s poor nutritional education and poor health habits, the children of Mississippi will continue on the destructive path of obesity

    Read More

  • African American Mortality Essay

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    If we were to apply a longitude exposure study over the span of 42 years from the time an inner-city child is born, we may conclude that life experiences resulting from potential malnutrition, underprivileged environments, and overall lack of health education are the leading contributors to adult African American deaths. Studies show that 8 of the 10 leading causes in the deaths of African Americans are medical disease, which with proper education and care may have been prevented and/or addressed earlier in their life to diagnose and treat. The fact is Heart Disease is the leading cause of deaths for African Americans. When compared to other ethnicities, some form of heart disease causes 24.5% of African American deaths. These numbers are astounding considering Blacks make up approximately only 14.2% of the total U.S. population. The contributing factor is lack of knowledge and family medical screening. Understanding the history of your genial line specific to your race and ...

    Read More

  • Disparities in Health of Children

    1377 Words  | 3 Pages

    When we consider the education of our children in the United States, we must consider their health as a significant issue as it can positively or negatively impact a student’s education. It has generally been acknowledged that there is a great disparity in our country in the area of health care. Healthy People2010, a published report put out by the Health and Human Services Division of the Unites States Government (2000) has included as part of its Goals for 2010, to eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population. According to this report, health differences occur depending on a persons gender, race or ethnicity, education or income, disability, rural locality, or sexual orientation. In this paper, I will mostly concentrate on racial and ethnic differences as well as socioeconomic differences. According to the Healthy People 2010 report, biological and genetic differences do not explain the health disparities experienced by non-White populations in the United States. Besides "complex interaction among genetic variations, environmental factors, and specific health behaviors," Health and Human Services says, "inequalities in income and education underlie many health disparities in the United States." Also, "population groups that suffer the worst health status are also those that have the highest poverty rates and least education." Health, United States (1998) reported that each increase of income or education increased the likelihood of being in good health. According to this report, those with less education tend to die younger than those with more education for all major causes of death including chronic diseases, communicable diseases and injuries. There are several factors that account for differences between socioeconomic and racial and ethnic groups. These factors include a lower sedentary life style, cigarette smoking and less likely to have health insurance coverage or receive preventive care among these groups.

    Read More

  • National Health Care Quality and Disparities Report

    608 Words  | 2 Pages

    The National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report (NHQDR) (2012) identified three key themes. The themes are health care quality and access are suboptimal, especially for minority and low income groups; overall quality is improving, access is getting worse and disparities are not changing; and urgent attention is warranted to ensure continued improvements in: quality diabetic care, maternal and child health, adverse events, disparities in cancer care and quality care among the states in the south.

    Read More

  • Reflection On Weight Of The Nation

    567 Words  | 2 Pages

    The movie drives home that many factors influence the quality of health in our children, as well as adults, yet at the top of America’s Leading Health Indicators are nutrition, physical activity and obesity. This major health epidemic has had an overwhelming and burdening effect on the national deficit as well as on state budgets struggling to meet the high demand for health care costs and ways to provide the necessary safety net programs to fe...

    Read More

  • Social Determinants Of Health Case Study

    1027 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to the World Health Organisation (2017) the social determinants of health are defined as the conditions where people are born, grown, work and live, which also includes the health system. The social determinants of health determined populations health’s outcomes and therefore linked with health inequalities (WHO, 2017)

    Read More

  • The Social Determinants of Health Contribution to Mr. A’s Myocardial Infarction

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gavin Turrell, B. F. (1999). Socioeconomic Determinants of Health:Towards a National Research Program and a Policy and Intervention Agenda. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Social Determinants Of Health

    1712 Words  | 4 Pages

    Social determinants of health have attracted the attention of governments, policy makers and international health organisations over the last three decades (Hankivsky & Christoffersen 2008). This is because social conditions which people are born in, live and work play an important role in their health outcomes (WHO 2015). According to Kibesh (1200) social determinants drive health disparities, disrupts the human developmental process and undermine the quality of life and opportunities for people and families (ref). Thus, several theories have been developed over the years to provide in-depth understanding of the social determinants of health and to reduce health inequalities (Hankivsky & Christoffersen, 2008). However, there is still significant

    Read More

  • Healthy People 2020 Essay

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    Healthy People 2020 is a program for the promotion of health and the prevention of diseases, launched by the Department of Health and Human Services in December 2010. According to healthypeople.gov, this program has four overarching goals which are first to achieve healthy, longer lives free of preventable diseases, injuries, and premature deaths; to achieve health fairness, eliminate differences, and improve all groups’ health; also to produce social and physical environments that encourage good health; and last but not least to promote life’s quality, healthy development, and healthy behaviors through all life stages. This program has a vision of a community where people live long, healthy lives. Healthy People 2020 offers a comprehensive set of 10 years of nationwide goals and objectives that is meant to improve the health of the American population. Healthy People 2020 covers 42 topic areas with approximately 600 objectives, which include 1,200 measures. A smaller set of Healthy People 2020 objectives, has been designated to communicate high-priority health issues and actions that can be taken to address them, this objectives are called Leading Health Indicators. The program goes above and beyond these health indicators in order to provide the best care for the people of this country. These indictors cover from the access of health service, nutrition, physical activity, and obesity to substance abuse, environmental quality, injury and violence.

    Read More

  • Health And Population Health: The Social Determinants Of Health

    1822 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the introduction of the Ottawa Charter in 1986, health promotion across the world has taken a more preventative, or “upstream”, approach. This was done through the enlightenment of the socioenvronmental approach that focused less on lifestyle choices and immediate medical intervention, but instead the factors that directly and indirectly influenced health (Cohen, 2012). In this revolutionary charter, the socioenvironmental approach introduced key predictors to population health, which are now known as the social determinants of health (Cohen, 2012). These determinants range from income to race and gender, and encompass all of the effects that these factors have on individual and population health. Mikkonen and Raphael perfectly summarize

    Read More

  • Determinants Of Health And Social Health

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    The health of an individual and their communities is affected by several elements which combine together. Whether an individual is healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment.1 To a greater extent, factors such as where an individual lives, their relationships with family and friends, the state of their environment, income, genetics and level of education all have significant impacts on health, however the more frequently considered factors such as access and use of health care facilities regularly have less of an impact.6 Determinants of health is a term which was introduced in the 1970s as part of a broader analysis of research and policy on public health. Researchers argued that there was a lot of attention and too much expenditure on health being dedicated to individuals and their illnesses, and little or no investment in populations and their health. It was decided that public health should be more concerned with social policies and social determinants than with health facilities and the outcomes of diseases.7 The determinants of health include social and economic environment, physical environment and an individual’s behaviour and characteristics. The environment of an individual determines their health, holding responsible an individual for having poor health or acknowledging them for good health is inappropriate. Individuals are not likely to be able to control several of the determinants of health. These determinants that make individuals healthy or not include the factors above, and numerous others.6

    Read More

  • How to Achieve Wellness in Your Life

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes are said to account for nearly two of every three deaths in the U.S. Though there is a possibility of these diseases being prevented with a healthy lifestyle, there is no way to actually prevent the onset and progression of these conditions. Sadly, young children are being introduced to these unhealthy lifestyles and taking them right into adulthood thus becoming walking billboards for the diseases. These diseases compromise health, shorten life expectancy, and cause enormous suffering, disability, and economic costs.... ... middle of paper ... ...

    Read More

More about Health Rankings

Open Document