Strengths:

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

 

Challenges:

• High prevalence of sedentary lifestyle, obesity & diabetes
• High prevalence of smoking
• High rate of preventable hospitalizations

 

Highlights:

• In the past five years, air pollution decreased 19 percent from 13.8 to 11.2 micrograms of fine particulate per cubic meter.
• In the past year, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 20.3 percent to 24.5 percent of persons under age 18.
• Last year, the immunization coverage was 91.0 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months; today it is 85.5 percent.
• West Virginia has the second highest rate of smoking at 28.6 percent of the adult population, with 421,000 adults who smoke in the state.
• Although the rate of preventable hospitalizations remains high, it dropped over the past ten years, from 121.0 to 99.1 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.

 

Disparities:

• In West Virginia, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 42.0 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 32.1 percent and Hispanics at 28.3 percent; and sedentary lifestyle is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 43.2 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 32.9 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.wvdhhr.org