The Rankings

Texas

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Strengths:

• Low prevalence of smoking
• Moderate infant mortality rate
• Low rate of cancer deaths

Challenges:

• High rate of uninsured population
• Low use of early prenatal care
• High incidence of infectious disease

Highlights:

• In the past year, the incidence of infectious disease increased from 13.1 to 18.4 cases per 100,000 population.
• In the past year, the rate of preventable hospitalizations decreased from 78.7 to 72.8 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
• In the past five years, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 22.0 percent to 26.5 percent of persons under age 18.
• While smoking decreased from 21.9 percent to 15.8 percent of adults in the last ten years, nearly 2.9 million adults still smoke in Texas.
• In the past ten years, obesity increased from 23.1 percent to 31.7 percent of adults, with nearly 5.8 million obese adults in the state.
• In the past ten years, diabetes increased from 6.2 percent to 9.7 percent of adults. Now nearly 1.8 million Texas adults have diabetes.

Health Disparities:

In Texas, obesity is more prevalent among Hispanics at 36.0 percent and non-Hispanic blacks at 38.5 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 26.7 percent. Diabetes also varies by race and ethnicity in the state; 14.8 percent of non-Hispanic blacks and 10.6 percent of Hispanics have diabetes compared to 8.1 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

State Health Department Web Site: www.dshs.state.tx.us