Alaska News

Report: Alaska drops one spot in nationwide health rankings

Alaska dropped from 25th to 26th place this year in nationwide state health rankings -- losing points for higher rates of smoking and binge drinking while gaining ground for low rates of diabetes, preventable hospitalizations and underweight infants, according to data gathered by United Health Foundation.

Each December, the foundation -- a nonprofit arm of insurer UnitedHealth Group -- releases America's Health Rankings, a report that tracks public-health markers from violent crime to infectious disease to lack of health insurance in each state.

This year, Mississippi received the title of least healthy state and Hawaii held its spot as the state with the healthiest residents for the third consecutive year. Since the rankings began in 1990, Alaska's position has wavered from 22nd at its best to 38th at its worst.

Some health challenges Alaska residents face, according to the 2014 report, include high rates of chlamydia and pertussis, or whooping cough, as well as low immunization rates among children and teens. In the past year, binge drinking increased by 16 percent in Alaska. When it comes to the lowest percentage of smokers, Alaska fell from its spot at 32nd last year to 42nd this year.

But the report also lauded the Last Frontier for its low levels of air pollution, low infant mortality rate and low rate of babies born underweight. In the past year, preventable hospitalizations fell by 12 percent for Medicare beneficiaries. Since 1990, the infant mortality rate in Alaska has decreased by 58 percent, the report said.

Dr. Jeff Mason, senior medical director with UnitedHealthcare, said he hopes the rankings spark conversations about local health and prompt the question, "What can we do to make it better?"

Here's a look at how Alaska fared:

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• Alaska ranked 42nd in low smoking rates. In Alaska, 22.6 percent of adult residents smoke compared to 19 percent nationally. A smoker is defined in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System report, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as someone who has smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and who currently smokes.

• Alaska ranked first in rate of low birth weights. Roughly one in 18 babies in the state, or about 5.7 percent, weighed less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces at birth and were considered underweight. Nationally, about 8 percent of babies were born underweight.

• Alaska ranked 46th in immunization rates for children and 48th for teens. Nearly 64 percent of Alaska's children and about 52.2 percent of teens receive vaccinations, compared to 70.4 percent of children and 67.1 percent of teens across the country.

• Alaska ranked 49th for low rates of chlamydia and 42nd for pertussis, or whooping cough. Pulling data from 2012, the report said there were about 756 cases of chlamydia and nearly 49 cases of pertussis per 100,000 Alaskans.

• Alaska ranked second in low rates of infant mortality with about 4.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

• Alaska ranked eighth for low rates of physical inactivity. Roughly one in five Alaskans, or about 20.6 percent, are considered "physically inactive," meaning they reported doing no physical activity or exercise in the last 30 days.Nationally, 23.5 percent of people were physically inactive.

• Alaska ranked 43rd for a low prevalence of binge drinking. About 19.5 percent of adult women in Alaska reported having four or more drinks on a single occasion in the past 30 days and about 19.5 percent of adult men reported having five or more drinks in the same timeframe. North Dakota, with 23.8 percent of men and women reporting that they met the quota, was ranked as the state with the highest prevalence of binge drinking.

The full report is available at americashealthrankings.org.

Tegan Hanlon

Tegan Hanlon was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News between 2013 and 2019. She now reports for Alaska Public Media.

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