Strengths:

• High rate of high school graduation
• Ready access to early prenatal care
• Ready availability of primary care physicians

 

Challenges:

• High rate of preventable hospitalizations
• High levels of air pollution
• High prevalence of binge drinking

 

Highlights:

• 3.7 million adults in Illinois are obese, 1.0 million more individuals than 10 years ago.
• Diabetes has increased sharply in the last 10 years from 6.2 percent to 8.7 percent of the adult population. Now, 1.1 million Illinois adults have diabetes.
• In the past five years, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 15.6 percent to 20.6 percent of persons under age 18.
• In the past year, the violent crime rate decreased from 497 to 435 offenses per 100,000 population.
• Infectious disease, at 11.1 cases per 100,000 population, has almost returned to the level experienced in 2006 after dipping to 8.2 cases per 100,000 population last year.
• While smoking has decreased from 22.3 percent to 16.9 percent of adults in the past ten years, 2.2 million people still smoke in Illinois.

 

Disparities:

• In Illinois, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 39.5 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 25.5 percent. Diabetes also varies by race and ethnicity in the state; 13.4 percent of non-Hispanic blacks have diabetes compared to 7.4 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.idph.state.il.us