Strengths:

• Higher per capita public health funding than most states
• Low prevalence of binge drinking
• Moderate availability of primary care physicians

 

Challenges:

• High infant mortality rate & high prevalence of low birthweight
• High prevalence of sedentary lifestyle
• High violent crime rate

 

Highlights:

• While preventable hospitalizations remain a challenge for Tennessee, the rate dropped in the last five years from 97.8 to 83.4 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
• In the past five years, the high school graduation rate increased from 66.1 percent to 77.4 percent of incoming ninth graders who graduate in four years.
• In the past ten years, the rate of uninsured population increased from 10.4 percent to 13.9 percent of the population.
• In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty decreased from 23.6 percent to 22.5 percent of persons under age 18.
• Last year, air pollution was 11.1 micrograms of fine particulate per cubic meter; this year it is 10.4, dropping 6 percent.

 

Disparities:

• In Tennessee, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 42.4 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 31.1 percent and Hispanics at 20.0 percent; sedentary lifestyle is more prevalent among Hispanics at 39.6 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 29.5 percent; and smoking is more prevalent among non-Hispanic whites at 21.7 percent than Hispanics at 16.4 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: http://health.state.tn.us