Strengths:

• Few poor mental & physical health days per month
• Low incidence of infectious disease
• Low prevalence of binge drinking

 

Challenges:

• Low per capita public health funding
• High infant mortality rate & high prevalence of low birthweight
• High prevalence of diabetes

 

Highlights:

• Immunization coverage dropped below 90.0 percent for the first time in eight years.
• In the past five years, air pollution decreased from 13.0 to 10.0 micrograms of fine particulate per cubic meter.
• In the past five years, the rate of preventable hospitalizations decreased from 75.1 to 62.6 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
• Last year, 27.6 percent of persons under age 18 lived in poverty; today it is 23.9 percent.
• The rate of uninsured population increased from 13.4 percent to 16.7 percent in the past ten years.
• Diabetes remains high at 10.9 percent of the adult population. More than 800,000 adults have diabetes in the state.

 

Disparities:

• In North Carolina, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 42.9 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 26.5 percent and Hispanics at 24.8 percent; smoking is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 20.9 percent than Hispanics at 13.9 percent; and sedentary lifestyle is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 32.6 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 24.4 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.dhhs.state.nc.us