Health News
- County Health Rankings Look Familiar, But Show That Some Counties Overcame Bad Factors To Have Encouraging Outcomes
The 2015 County Health Rankings for Kentucky, compiled by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, have been released. For the fourth year in a row, Oldham County ranked highest...
- Study Finds Only Counties In Appalachia, Mostly In Kentucky, Had Increasing Rates Of Death Among Both Sexes As Century Turned
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News More than 40 percent of counties saw increases in female death rates as the 21st Century began, while the death rate for men rose in just 3 percent of counties, a study shows. Only Appalachian counties, mostly in...
- September Is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
September has been proclaimed national Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, with President Obama asking Americans to "take action by learning about and engaging in activities that promote healthy eating and greater physical activity by all our nation's...
- Kentucky 6th In Obesity; State Rate Rises For 2nd Consecutive Year
"It's official: Kentucky is a mecca for blubber," The Courier-Journal's Darla Carter reports. The state has the sixth highest rate of obese adults, is one of just six states whose obesity rate has risen for the second year in a row, and is one...
- Annual County Health Rankings Will Be Released Wednesday
The national County Health Rankings for 2011 will be released Wednesday, March 30. The rankings give a snapshot view of every county in the nation by examining factors such as rates of obesity, smoking, uninsured adults and various diseases. The...
Health News
Owsley men most likely in U.S. to be obese, Perry women most likely to die; Morgan women led nation in increasing exercise
Men in Owsley County are the fattest in the United States, and women in Perry County have the lowest life expectancy, 72, according to an NBC News report based on data assembled by the Seattle-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which has developed a county-by-county, interactive map of obesity, physical activity, high blood pressure and life expectancy from 2001 to 2011.
In 2011, according to the map, 46.9 percent of men in Owsley County were obese. Women in the county were even fatter, at 53 percent, but that was well under the highest female-obesity county in the nation, Issaquena County, Mississippi, where 59.3 percent of women were obese.
Owsley was also the county where men were least likely to report that they get sufficient exercise, only 33.1 percent. But a nearby county, Morgan, was the one where weekly exercise increased the most in any U.S. county from 2001 to 2011 -- from 18.3 percent to 44 percent.
Several counties adjoining or near Owsley ranked almost as high in obesity, creating a cluster of high-fat counties in Central Appalachia. Here are the pertinent parts of the 2011 maps, with male obesity on the left and female on the right; for the interactive map, click here.
In 2011, according to the map, 46.9 percent of men in Owsley County were obese. Women in the county were even fatter, at 53 percent, but that was well under the highest female-obesity county in the nation, Issaquena County, Mississippi, where 59.3 percent of women were obese.
Owsley was also the county where men were least likely to report that they get sufficient exercise, only 33.1 percent. But a nearby county, Morgan, was the one where weekly exercise increased the most in any U.S. county from 2001 to 2011 -- from 18.3 percent to 44 percent.
Several counties adjoining or near Owsley ranked almost as high in obesity, creating a cluster of high-fat counties in Central Appalachia. Here are the pertinent parts of the 2011 maps, with male obesity on the left and female on the right; for the interactive map, click here.
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| Female obesity rates by county, 2011 |
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| Male obesity rates by county, 2011 |
- County Health Rankings Look Familiar, But Show That Some Counties Overcame Bad Factors To Have Encouraging Outcomes
The 2015 County Health Rankings for Kentucky, compiled by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, have been released. For the fourth year in a row, Oldham County ranked highest...
- Study Finds Only Counties In Appalachia, Mostly In Kentucky, Had Increasing Rates Of Death Among Both Sexes As Century Turned
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News More than 40 percent of counties saw increases in female death rates as the 21st Century began, while the death rate for men rose in just 3 percent of counties, a study shows. Only Appalachian counties, mostly in...
- September Is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
September has been proclaimed national Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, with President Obama asking Americans to "take action by learning about and engaging in activities that promote healthy eating and greater physical activity by all our nation's...
- Kentucky 6th In Obesity; State Rate Rises For 2nd Consecutive Year
"It's official: Kentucky is a mecca for blubber," The Courier-Journal's Darla Carter reports. The state has the sixth highest rate of obese adults, is one of just six states whose obesity rate has risen for the second year in a row, and is one...
- Annual County Health Rankings Will Be Released Wednesday
The national County Health Rankings for 2011 will be released Wednesday, March 30. The rankings give a snapshot view of every county in the nation by examining factors such as rates of obesity, smoking, uninsured adults and various diseases. The...