Strengths:

• High immunization coverage
• Ready availability of primary care physicians

 

Challenges:

• Many poor mental & physical health days
• High prevalence of binge drinking
• High rate of preventable hospitalizations

 

Highlights:

• In the past ten years, the rate of uninsured population increased from 7.3 percent to 11.8 percent.
• In the past year, childhood poverty declined from 20.4 percent to 17.5 percent of persons under age 18. It was 10.7 percent ten years ago.
• Obesity remains below the national median at 25.4 percent of the adult population, with more than 210,000 obese adults in the state. A similar number of adults live a sedentary lifestyle.
• One in five adults smoke in Rhode Island; this is 166,000 adults.
• Five years ago, per capita public health funding was $90; this year it is $110.

 

Disparities:

• In Rhode Island, sedentary lifestyle is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 35.2 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 23.3 percent; obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 35.7 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 24.7 percent; and smoking is more prevalent among non-Hispanic whites at 15.4 percent than Hispanics at 11.6 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.health.state.ri.us