Strengths:

• High immunization coverage
• Low percentage of children in poverty
• Low prevalence of smoking
• Lower prevalence of obesity than most other states

 

Challenges:

• Moderate levels of air pollution
• High prevalence of binge drinking

 

Highlights:

• In the past five years, geographic disparity within the state decreased from 8.5 percent to 5.4 percent.
• In the past five years, the infant mortality rate increased from 5.5 to 6.3 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• In the past year, diabetes increased from 6.6 percent to 7.3 percent of adults. There are 260,000 adults in Connecticut who have diabetes.
• In the past year, smoking decreased from 15.4 percent to 13.2 percent of adults. There are 470,000 adults in Connecticut who still smoke.
• While Connecticut has one of the lowest obesity rates in the U.S., 811,000 adults in Connecticut are obese, an increase of more than 210,000 individuals in the past 10 years.
• Compared to other health measures, the rate of preventable hospitalizations remains high in Connecticut at 63.1 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.

 

Disparities:

• In Connecticut, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 39.5 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 20.8 percent. Diabetes also varies by race and ethnicity in the state; 11.5 percent of non-Hispanic blacks have diabetes compared to 6.7 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.dph.state.ct.us