Vermont Ranks As Healthiest State, Report Finds

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 06 Nov 2007 - 11:00 PDT

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Vermont ranks as the healthiest state based on 20 measures of wellness, according to a report released on Monday by the United Health Foundation, USA Today reports. For the report, UHF and the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention rated each state on measures of wellness, such as rates of obesity, infant mortality, cancer deaths and high school graduation. The report used data from CDC, the National Center for Health Statistics, the American Medical Association, the Census Bureau and other sources.

According to the report, Vermont has low rates of obesity, preventable hospitalizations and children who live in poverty. Mississippi ranks as the unhealthiest state, with high rates of obesity and children who live in poverty, despite a high level of health care spending per capita, the report found.

Reed Tuckson, a UHF board member, said overall U.S. health improved annually during the 1990s but declined in the first half of the 2000s because more residents have preventable chronic diseases in an "extremely expensive" health care system (Levine, USA Today, 11/5).

The report is available online.

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