State Rankings on Senior Health
America’s Health Rankings Senior 2017 Report offers a comprehensive analysis of senior population health on a national and state-by-state basis. Four categories were studied to arrive at the rankings: Behav- iors, Community & Environment, Policy, and Clinical Care. To see the full 138-page report, visit http://tinyurl.com/yb7wt3nu
Minnesota, Utah, Hawaii, Colorado and New Hampshire were the top five Healthi- est states. Those with the biggest room for improvement were Mississippi, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.
The report also tells us about behavior of Americans that are known to be detrimental to their health. You will find very interesting statistics about pain management by people with arthritis, those who are obese and if people go to a dentist or exercise.
A national average of 8.7 percent of Americans 65 and older are smoking. The highest rate was in Tennessee with 13.8 percent followed by Oklahoma, Nevada, Kentucky and Louisiana. Utah had the lowest rate of 5.2 percent, followed by Cal- ifornia, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Texas.
60.7 Percent of seniors got a flu vaccina- tion with South Dakota, North Carolina and Iowa leading the states with over 70 percent participation. Florida was the lowest at 51.4 percent; Arizona and Wisconsin were below 53 percent.