Strengths:

• High immunization coverage
• Low prevalence of binge drinking
• Low violent crime rate

 

Challenges:

• High prevalence of smoking
• High rate of cancer deaths
• High rate of preventable hospitalizations

 

Highlights:

• High school graduation rates improved in the last five years, from 73.0 percent to 77.6 percent of incoming ninth graders who graduate within four years.
• In the past five years, levels of air pollution decreased from 13.6 to 11.4 micrograms of particulate per cubic meter.
• In the past year, immunization coverage increased from 89.7 percent to 92.2 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months.
• Kentucky has the highest smoking rate in the U.S. at 29.0 percent of the adult population, with more than 970,000 adult smokers in the state.
• There are more than one million obese adults in Kentucky.
• While Kentucky remains as the state with the highest rate of preventable hospitalization, in the past ten years, the rate declined from 115.3 to 102.8 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.

 

Disparities:

• In Kentucky, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 42.5 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 31.8 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.chfs.ky.gov