Send your comments and tips to whitecoat@globe.com
  Awards Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Ctr. Boston Medical Center Boston University Brigham and Women's Hospital Broad Institute Cambridge Health Alliance Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Ctr. Children's Hospital Boston Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Grants Harvard University Joslin Diabetes Center Lahey Clinic Mass. General Hospital Mass. Health Law McLean Hospital MIT New England Baptist Hospital Personnel Moves Public Health Research Short White Coat Tufts-New England Medical Center Tufts University UMass Memorial Medical Center University of Massachusetts VA Medical Centers    A Healthy Blog Running A Hospital Nature Network Boston SciBos - Corie Lok's blog Kevin, M.D. Blog, MD Nurse at small Dr. Gwenn Is In Healthy Children blog WBUR's CommonHealth Other Globe Blogs
Elizabeth Cooney is a health reporter for the Worcester Telegram &
Gazette.
Boston Globe Health and Science staff:
Scott Allen Alice Dembner Carey Goldberg Liz Kowalczyk Stephen Smith Colin Nickerson Beth Daley Karen Weintraub, Deputy Health and Science Editor, and Gideon Gil, Health and Science Editor. Short White Coat blogger Ishani Ganguli Short White Coat blogger Jennifer Srygley  Week of:
November 11
Week of:
November 4
Week of:
October 28
Week of:
October 21
Week of:
October 14
Week of:
October 7
|
« Today's Health|Science: super telescopes, fears of aging, West Nile's move west, hearing research | Main | Screening shows 1 in 7 teens might have substance abuse problem » Monday, November 5, 2007We're number 9, health survey saysMassachusetts slipped to ninth place in national health rankings released today, down two spots from last year. Compiled by the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention, the report said the overall healthiness of all states has declined by 0.3 percent. The national standings have stagnated since 2000, the report said, after steady improvements from 1990, the survey's first year. Vermont came in first, followed by Minnesota, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Connecticut in the top five. Mississippi ranks as the least healthy state, along with Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahomaand Tennessee in the bottom five. In Massachusetts, both infectious disease and smoking rates declined. But more children were living in poverty and more people had no health insurance, the report said in its assessment of significant changes. The rating of insurance coverage was based on 2006 data, before Massachusetts' new healthcare law requiring near-universal coverage went into effect on July 1. The rankings' 20 measures of health include obesity, tobacco use and violent crime as well as cancer and cardiovascular deaths. Massachusetts scored well for its high levels of immunization coverage, low rates of obesity, and ready access to primary care, but the report said the state faces challenges with high prevalence of binge drinking, preventable hospitalizations and violent crime. The percentage of children in poverty grew from 11.6 percent to 13.6 percent and the rate of uninsured people rose from 9.2 perent to 10.4 percent, according to the report. Infectious disease cases fell from 23.7 per 100,000 to 20.9 and the prevalence of smoking dropped from 18.1 percent to 17.8 precent. Posted by Elizabeth Cooney at 02:00 PM
|
