Strengths:

• High immunization coverage
• Low incidence of infectious disease
• Low prevalence of smoking
• Low rate of uninsured population

 

Challenges:

• Moderate high school graduation rate
• Moderate levels of air pollution

 

Highlights:

• While Connecticut has one of the lowest smoking rates in the U.S., 475,000 adults smoke.
• In the past five years, high school graduation rates declined from 80.7 percent to 75.4 percent of incoming ninth graders who graduate in four years.
• In the past five years, public health funding increased from $57 to $71 per person.
• In the past five years, the rate of preventable hospitalizations decreased from 67.3 to 60.4 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees..
• In the past ten years, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 8.9 percent to 14.3 percent of children under the age of 18.
• In the past year, the infant mortality rate decreased from 6.3 to 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births.

 

Disparities:

• In Connecticut, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 41.4 percent than Hispanics at 28.6 percent and non-Hispanic whites at 21.0 percent; and sedentary lifestyle is more prevalent among Hispanics at 27.5 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 19.9 percent.

 

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