Strengths:

• High per capita public health funding
• Low incidence of infectious disease
• Low prevalence of binge drinking

 

Challenges:

• Many poor mental and physical health days per month
• High prevalences of smoking, obesity and diabetes
• High rate of preventable hospitalizations

 

Highlights:

• In the past ten years, diabetes increased from 7.6 percent to 11.7 percent of the population. Now 214,000 West Virginia adults have diabetes.
• In the past ten years, obesity increased from 23.2 percent to 32.9 percent of adults, with 601,000 obese adults in the state.
• In the past year, the rate of preventable hospitalizations decreased from 105.4 to 100.7 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
• Unlike other states, smoking has not declined in the last ten years; 489,000 adults still smoke in West Virginia.

 

Disparities:

• In West Virginia, smoking is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 27.0 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 26.3 percent and Hispanics at 25.0 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.wvdhhr.org