The Rankings

Oklahoma

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Strengths:

• Low prevalence of binge drinking
• High per capita public health funding (see note)
• Low incidence of infectious disease

Challenges:

• High prevalence of smoking and obesity
• Limited availability of primary care physicians
• Low use of prenatal care

Highlights:

• In the past five years, smoking decreased six percent from 25.1 percent to 23.7 percent of adults; 669,000 adults still smoke in Oklahoma.
• In the past year, the rate of preventable hospitalizations decreased from 88.7 to 81.8 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
• In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 20.3 percent to 25.0 percent of persons under age 18.
• In the past five years, diabetes increased from 8.9 percent to 10.4 percent of adults. Now 293,000 Oklahoma adults have diabetes.
• In the past ten years, obesity increased from 19.7 percent to 31.3 percent of adults, with 883,000 obese adults in Oklahoma.

Health Disparities:

In Oklahoma, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic American Indians at 40.0 percent and non-Hispanic blacks at 41.3 percent than among non-Hispanic whites at 29.7 percent and Hispanics at 30.3 percent. Diabetes also varies by race and ethnicity in the state; 15.1 percent of non-Hispanic American Indians have diabetes compared to 9.4 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

State Health Department Web Site: www.ok.gov/health

Note: Oklahoma State Department of Health has indiciated that Trust for America's Health estimates, the source of this comparison, dramatically overstate what is available for public health programs in the state thus resulting in an indicated expenditure rate that is too high. Contact the Oklahoma Deparment of Health for more detailed information.