CT is Nation’s 4th Healthiest State, Analysis Shows

Connecticut ranks as the fourth healthiest state in the nation, according to the latest United Health Foundation’s 30th edition of its annual America's Health Rankings Annual Report.  It is the longest-running state-by-state analysis of the nation's health.

Connecticut has consistently been ranked in the top 10 through the years, with the exception of two years in the 1990’s.  The state ranked 8th in 1990, 7th in 200, 4th in 2010, and 4th this past year.  Connecticut ranked third last year.

The 118-page report ranked all 50 states across 35 measures of health, such as e-cigarette use, housing problems and concentrated disadvantage. These measures were then filtered through the following five categories to help determine an overall ranking for each state: Behaviors, Community & Environment, Policy, Clinical Care, and Health Outcomes.  Connecticut ranked high across each of the five model categories that determined the overall ranking.

·         Behaviors: 5th

·         Community & Environment: 9th

·         Policy: 7th

·         Clinical Care: 5th

·         Health Outcomes: 8th

Vermont ranked as the healthiest city in America for 2019, the researchers found, followed by Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut and Utah.  At the other end of the rankings, Mississippi finished as the lowest-ranked state in the nation. The bottom five was rounded out by Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma. Vermont and Massachusetts finished 1-2 in 2010 and 2019.  Vermont was fourth last year.

The report noted both Connecticut’s strengths - low prevalence of smoking, high rate of primary care physicians and low cardiovascular death rate – and challenges, high prevalence of excessive drinking, high drug death rate, and large difference in health status by high school education.

Among the statistics noted about Connecticut were:

·         Since 1993, low birthweight increased 23% from 6.6% to 8.1% of live births

·         In the past three years, air pollution decreased 18% from 8.8 to 7.2 micrograms of fine particles per cubic meter

·         In the past five years, drug deaths increased 140% from 11.0 to 26.4 deaths per 100,000 population

·         In the past 10 years, children in poverty increased 13% from 12.5% to 14.1% of children

·         12.2 percent of Connecticut adults smoked in 2019, 27.4 percent were considered obese, and 22.2 percent of adults were physically inactive

"The report provides a unique opportunity to track short- and long-term public health successes as well as identify current and emerging challenges at state and national levels," authors of the United Health Foundation wrote. "When reading the report, think beyond the rankings; every state, whether first or last, has strengths and challenges."

The America's Health Rankings Annual Report used 19 data sources to determine the most accurate information for each state, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavior Risk Surveillance System and the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and Current Population Survey.  The full report is available on Americashealthrankings.org. (Connecticut data on page 53.

Nationally, the report pointed out both successes and ongoing challenges.  The percentage of children in poverty has dropped by 20% since 2013, smoking among adults has dropped 45% since 1990, infant mortality has declined by 43% since 1990 and the number of mental health providers has increased by 13% since 2017.  The suicide rate has climbed by 4% since 2018, drug deaths by 37% since 2016, and obesity among adults by 166% since 1990. Cardiovascular deaths, after decreasing by 37% between 1990 and 2015, has increased by 4% since 2015.

United Health Foundation, based in Minnesota, provides information to support decisions that lead to better health outcomes and healthier communities. America’s Health Rankings’ purpose is to create widespread awareness of where states stand on important public health measures

Next year’s report is expected to reflect some changes in methodology.  A new rankings model will be introduced, which will consist of four determinants of health: behaviors, social & economic factors, physical environment and clinical care. The most notable change is the enhanced focus on the social determinants of health, represented by two categories: social & economic factors and physical environment. Policy, a category in the current ranking model, will be removed, and the measures representing the influence of policy on health will be distributed to other categories.