Strengths:

• High immunization coverage
• Low prevalence of binge drinking

 

Challenges:

• High percentage of children in poverty
• High prevalence of sedentary lifestyle, obesity &diabetes
• High rate of infant mortality and prevalence of low birthweight
• High rate of preventable hospitalizations

 

Highlights:

• In the past five years, the amount of public health funding increased from $69 to $102 per person.
• In the past year, the high school graduation rate increased from 63.5 percent to 67.3 percent of ninth graders who graduate within four years.
• Last year, 17.2 percent of the population was uninsured; this year it is 20.3 percent.
• Obesity remains high at 33.4 percent of the adult population, with almost 1.2 million obese adults in Louisiana.
• While Kentucky has one of the highest rates of preventable hospitalization in the U.S., the rate declined from 114.8 to 92.1 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees over the last ten years.

 

Disparities:

• In Louisiana, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 41.6 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 29.3 percent and Hispanics at 28.9 percent; and sedentary lifestyle is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 35.9 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 26.4 percent and Hispanics at 25.1 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.dhh.louisiana.gov/