By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — A new report released today ranked Arkansas 40th among the states in overall health.
Last year Arkansas was 44th in the America’s Health Rankings and in 1998 the state was ranked 50th.
“This is a striking improvement and is principally the result of attention being paid to the promotion of health behaviors,” said state Health Officer Paul Halverson.
Results of the study by the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention, showed the state’s obesity rate continues to be a problem.
The obesity rate has risen 16.3 percentage points since 1990 to 29.5 percent this year, ranking the state 41st nationally.
The overall rate of smoking, on the other hand, has dropped 9 percentage points since 1990 to 22.3 percent this year, but the state still ranks 43rd nationally.
The overall ranking of 40th put Arkansas ahead of some other Southern states, including Alabama (48th), Georgia (43rd), Mississippi (50th), South Carolina (46th) and Tennessee (44th).
The rankings identified the need to change unhealthy behaviors that contribute to preventable, chronic diseases as the key to improve the nation’s health, the organizations said in a news release.
Nationally, while overall tobacco use has dropped from 19.8 percent last year to 18.3 percent this year, about 440,000 people die every year from smoking-related illness.
Obesity has risen nearly 130 percent nationally since the first America’s health Rankings 20 years ago and currently 27 percent of the population is obese, according the study.
“While we are greatly encouraged by the fact that Arkansas has moved up in its health status ranking from 44th in the nation last year to 40th this year, we still have a ways to go,” Halverson said.
“We are seeing improved health status with regard to a decline in the rate of deaths from cardiovascular disease, and this is primarily a result of a decrease in the prevalence of smoking,” he said. “Our state’s high school graduation rates have increased. On the negative side, the percentage of children in poverty is increasing in Arkansas, and the prevalence of obesity and associated diabetes is increasing.”
