Strengths:

• Low levels of air pollution
• Low rate of preventable hospitalizations
• Lower prevalence of sedentary lifestyle, obesity, & diabetes than all other states

 

Challenges:

• High geographic disparity within the state
• High prevalence of binge drinking
• Low immunization coverage

 

Highlights:

• Colorado has the lowest obesity rate in the U.S. at 20.7 percent of the population with 805,000 obese adults.
• In the past five years, per capita public health funding rose from $55 to $81.
• In the past ten years, the rate of cardiovascular deaths declined from 282.2 to 213.3 deaths per 100,000 population.
• In the past ten years, the rate of preventable hospitalizations declined from 57.2 to 46.6 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
• In the past year, children in poverty decreased from 18.5 percent to 15.5 percent of children under the age of 18.
• In the past year, the incidence of infectious disease cases rose from 7.3 to 11.1 cases per 100,000 population.

 

Disparities:

• In Colorado, sedentary lifestyle is more prevalent among Hispanics at 27.7 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 14.8 percent; and obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 28.5 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 18.7 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.cdphe.state.co.us