Strengths:

• Low prevalence of binge drinking
• Moderate geographic disparity within the state
• Moderate high school graduation rate

 

Challenges:

• High incidence of infectious disease
• High prevalence of smoking
• High rates of cancer deaths and cardiovascular deaths

 

Highlights:

• In the past five years, the infant mortality rate declined from 8.1 to 7.5 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• In the past ten years, the rate of uninsured population increased from 13.7 percent to 18.9 percent.
• In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty decreased from 25.7 percent to 21.8 percent of the population.
• Smoking remains high at 22.9 percent of the adult population, with 670,000 adult smokers in the state.
• The number of adults with diabetes has increased by 70 percent in the last ten years, with 279,000 people now affected.
• Almost 900,000 people in Arkansas are obese, 275,000 more individuals than 10 years ago.

 

Disparities:

• In Arkansas, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 41.5 percent than Hispanics at 30.1 percent and non-Hispanic whites at 29.8 percent. Diabetes also varies by race and ethnicity in the state; 12.3 percent of non-Hispanic blacks have diabetes compared to 8.8 percent of Hispanics and 9.3 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.healthyarkansas.com