Strengths:

• Low levels of air pollution
• Low prevalence of diabetes
• Lower prevalence of obesity than most other states

 

Challenges:

• High geographic disparity within the state
• High occupational fatalities rate
• Low immunization coverage

 

Highlights:

• In the past five years, diabetes increased from 5.7 percent to 7.0 percent of the adult population.
• In the past ten years, obesity increased from 15.9 percent to 23.5 percent of the population. There are 230,000 obese adults in the state.
• In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty decreased from 21.0 percent to 19.2 percent of persons under age 18.
• In the past year, the rate of preventable hospitalizations decreased from 67.0 to 60.8 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
• Smoking has remained unchanged in the last ten years at 18.8 percent of adults; 184,000 adults still smoke in Montana.

 

Disparities:

• In Montana, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic American Indians at 42.3 percent than non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics, both at 22.9 percent. Diabetes also varies by race and ethnicity in the state; 14.4 percent of non-Hispanic American Indians have diabetes compared to 6.4 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 4.3 percent of Hispanics.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.dphhs.mt.gov