Strengths:

• Low prevalence of obesity
• Low prevalence of smoking
• Low rate of preventable hospitalizations

 

Challenges:

• High prevalence of binge drinking
• High prevalence of low birthweight
• Low high school graduation rate

 

Highlights:

• Currently, Hawaii has the lowest rate of preventable hospitalizations in the U.S. In the past five years, preventable hospitalizations decreased from 32.2 to 25.0 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
• Hawaii has one of the lowest obesity rates in the U.S. However, there are still 234,000 obese adults in the state.
• In the past five years, the levels of air pollution increased from 4.6 to 8.9 micrograms of fine particulate per cubic meter.
• In the past five years, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 10.5 percent to 15.9 percent of persons under age 18.
• In the past ten years, the infant mortality rate declined from 7.6 to 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• In the past year, geographic disparity within the state increased from 6.3 percent to 7.1 percent.

 

Disparities:

• In Hawaii, smoking is more prevalent among non-Hispanic Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders at 23.1 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 14.1 percent; and obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic Hawaiins/Pacific Islanders at 58.5 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 19.4 percent and Hispanics at 25.7 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: hawaii.gov/health