The Rankings

Maryland

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Strengths:

• Low prevalence of smoking
• Low percentage of children in poverty
• Ready availability of primary care physicians

Challenges:

• High violent crime rate
• High infant mortality rate
• High levels of air pollution

Highlights:

• While smoking has decreased from 20.5 percent to 15.2 percent of adults in the past ten years, 672,000 people still smoke in Maryland.
• More than 1.2 million adults in Maryland are obese, 437,000 more adults than 10 years ago.
• In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 12.3 percent to 13.6 percent of persons under age 18.
• Children in poverty was only 6.9 percent in 2001. In the past five years, the violent crime rate decreased from 704 to 548 offenses per 100,000 population.
• In the past ten years, diabetes increased from 6.4 percent to 9.3 percent of the adult population; 411,000 adults now have diabetes.
• Maryland ranks higher for determinants than for outcomes, indicating that overall healthiness should improve over time.

Health Disparities:

In Maryland, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 36.3 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 24.3 percent. Diabetes also varies by race and ethnicity in the state; 12.8 percent of non-Hispanic blacks have diabetes compared to 8.0 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

State Health Department Web Site: www.dhmh.state.md.us