In its 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report released this week, the Alzheimer’s Association notes that Alzheimer’s disease is now the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. The report also points out that deaths from the disease are expected to rise precipitously in the next 15 years as the Baby Boom generation reaches their 70s. Deaths attributed to Alzheimer’s disease increased 47.1 percent from 2000 to 2006, while deaths attributed to heart disease, the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S., declined by 11.5 percent in that time.

The report also includes data on Alzheimer’s disease deaths in each state. Below is a list of the top 10 states with the lowest rate of deaths attributed to Alzheimer’s disease; the age-adjusted death rates per 100,000 state residents are shown in parentheses. Age-adjusted rates account for the effect of age disparities in the populations being examined, which allows for reliable comparisons among states. For example, Florida has a large number of elderly residents, and, without any rate adjustments, would have a much higher Alzheimer’s death rate than a state with a younger average population; age-adjusted rates remove this effect.

The top 10 states with the lowest rates of Alzheimer’s disease deaths are:

1. New York (age-adjusted death rate per 100,000 = 9.2)
2. Hawaii (11.4)
3. Connecticut (16.1)
4. Nevada (17.1)
5. Maryland (17.5)
6. New Jersey (17.6)
7. New Mexico (18.3)
8. Florida (18.4)
9. Rhode Island (18.8)
10. Pennsylvania (18.9)

If you would like to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease, read the Healia Health Guide to Alzheimer’s Disease. To share your experiences with Alzheimer’s or as a caregiver of an Alzheimer’s patient, join the Healia Support Group for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Related blog post: Top 10 States for Alzheimer’s Disease Deaths

_{Source: Alzheimer’s Association, 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures, 3/09. http://www.alz.org/national/documents/report_alzfactsfigures2009.pdf}

_{Photo: without you., Flickr, Creative Commons}

The Alzheimer’s Association today released a report entitled 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures which includes information on the prevalence and cost of this devastating brain disease. The report notes that Alzheimer’s disease is now the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and points out that deaths from the disease are expected to rise precipitously in the next 15 years as the Baby Boom generation reaches their 70s. Deaths attributed to Alzheimer’s disease increased 47.1 percent from 2000 to 2006, while deaths attributed to heart disease, the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S., declined by 11.5 percent in that time.

The report also includes data on Alzheimer’s disease deaths in each state. Below is a list of top 10 states for deaths attributed to Alzheimer’s disease, with the age-adjusted rates per 100,000 state residents shown in parentheses. Age-adjusted rates account for the effect of age disparities in the populations being examined, which allows for reliable comparisons among states. For example, Florida has a large number of elderly residents, and, without any rate adjustments, would have a much higher Alzheimer’s death rate than a state with a younger average population; age-adjusted rates remove this effect.

The top 10 states with the highest rates of Alzheimer’s disease deaths are:

1. Tennessee (age-adjusted death rate per 100,000 = 36.2)
2. Washington (35.9)
3. Louisiana (34.2)
4. Alabama (33.2)
5. South Carolina (32.4)
6. Arizona (31.3)
7. N Dakota (29.8)
8. N Carolina (29.5)
9. Idaho (29.4)
10. Maine (29.1)

If you would like to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease, read the Healia Health Guide to Alzheimer’s Disease. To share your experiences with Alzheimer’s or as a caregiver of an Alzheimer’s patient, join the Healia Support Group for Alzheimer’s Disease.

_{Source: Alzheimer’s Association, 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures, 3/09. http://www.alz.org/national/documents/report_alzfactsfigures2009.pdf}

_{Photo: *Ann Gordon, Flickr, Creative Commons}

The nation’s mental health care system has been given a D grade by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). The report, released today, is entitled Grading the States and it assesses the nation’s public mental health care system and also grades the states individually. The grades were based on 65 specific criteria such as access to medicine, housing, family education, and support for National Guard members.

This is the second such report issued by the NAMI. The first, issued three years ago, also grades the national overall as a D. Since that report, 14 states have improved their grades while 12 states saw their grade fall. In all, no states earned an A, but there were six Bs, 18 Cs, 21 Ds and six Fs.

Since the first report, the greatest improvement occurred in Oklahoma, which rose from a D to a B, while South Carolina was a mirror image, dropping from B to D.

The report authors stress that during tough economic times such as these, it is easy to forget about vulnerable communities such as the mentally ill. This year, state budget cuts are threatening the state of mental health care, and for most states, it’s not as if the existing situation is good to begin with. States which have made great progress risk losing those gains, while states that already have a poor grade are likely to see it get even worse. Researchers point out that in tough times, the need for mental health programs is greater than ever, but ironically, those are also the times when mental health funding is most likely to be cut.

Some may ask why they should care about mental health funding if no one they know sufferers from serious mental illness. When mental health care is lacking, mentally ill individuals, unable to get the help they need often end up hospitalized, on the street, or in jail and taxpayers end up footing the bill.

Want to learn more about mental health issues or share your experiences with others? Join the Healia Support Group for Mental Illness.

_{Photo: flasporty, Flickr, Creative Commons}

The report Shortchanging America's Health: A State-By-State Look at How Federal Public Health Dollars are Spent was released this week by the non-profit organizations Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). It outlines federal government funding for disease prevention programs provided to the fifty states in fiscal year 2008.

The report found that annual per capita spending varies widely among the states (ranging from $12.74 and $52.78 per person). The national average for state funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for public health is $17.60 per person. The report notes that even at the high end, this level of spending on public health is a tiny fraction of the country's total investment in health. The vast majority of heath spending is invested in treating people after they've become sick. The report authors suggest that spending more money on disease prevention programs up front would lessen the need to spend so much on disease treatment "after the fact."

Below is a list of the bottom 10 states that received the least funding per state resident from the CDC in fiscal year 2008, followed in parentheses by the dollar amount of per capita spending.

The top 10 worst states for federal public health funding per capita are:

• Indiana ($12.74)
• Ohio ($12.76)
• Virginia ($12.88)
• Florida ($13.29)
• Kentucky ($13.94)
• Pennsylvania ($13.99)
• Tennessee ($14.96)
• Wisconsin ($14.97)
• Missouri ($15.14)
• Kansas ($15.14)

Interested in learning more about disease prevention? Join the Healia Support Group for Wellness and Lifestyle.

Related blog post: The Top 10 States for Federal Public Health Funding

_{Source: Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Shortchanging America's Health: A State-By-State Look at How Federal Public Health Dollars are Spent, 3/09. http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/shortchanging09.pdf}

_{Photo: ThrasherDave, Flickr, Creative Commons}

The polling group Gallup, the health company Healthways and a national association representing health insurance companies called America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) together developed the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (WBI) to measure America’s relative health, well-being, and prosperity. Launched in 2008, the WBI uses data from a 42 question survey that measures how Americans are faring physically, emotionally, socially, and economically at any given point in time. To date, pollsters have conducted nearly 450,000 interviews, at a rate of about 1,000 surveys per day. The report released today includes an overall composite score for each state and congressional district, as well as sub-index scores in six domains: Life Evaluation, Emotional Health, Physical Health, Healthy Behavior, Work Environment and Basic Access. The survey will be ongoing with annual updates for the next 25 years.

The nation’s overall score on the WBI has declined precipitously over the past year, and some states have been affected more than others. In general, Western states had the highest well-being scores while the lowest scores were mostly in the South. The bottom 10 states for well-being appear below, with the average score for overall well-being (out of 100) following in parentheses. Lower scores mean less overall we-being.

The top 10 states with the worst overall well-being in America are:

1. West Virginia (61.2 /100)
2. Kentucky (61.4)
3. Mississippi (61.9)
4. Ohio (62.8)
5. Arkansas (62.9)
6. Indiana (63.3)
7. Missouri (63.8)
8. Oklahoma (64.0)
9. Tennessee (64.0)
10. Michigan (64.0)

Share your thoughts on the rankings in the Healia Community for Men’s Health or the Healia Community for Women’s Health.

Related blog post: State and Congressional District Well-Being Rankings Released: Top 10 states for well-being in America.

_{Source: Gallup, Healthways, and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, 2008 State and Congressional Well-Being Reports, 3/09. http://www.ahiphiwire.org/WellBeing/}

_{Photo: B Rosen, Flikr, Creative Commons}

While it may seem like an interesting choice of timing, this week three organizations teamed up to release rankings of the 50 states and the 435 congressional districts based on their residents’ overall well-being. The polling group Gallup, the health company Healthways, and a national association representing health insurance companies called America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) together developed the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (WBI) to measure America’s relative health, well-being, and prosperity.

Launched in 2008, the WBI uses data from a 42 question survey that measures how Americans are faring physically, emotionally, socially, and economically at any given point in time. To date, pollsters have conducted nearly 450,000 interviews, a rate of about 1,000 surveys per day. The report released today includes an overall composite score for each state and congressional district, as well as sub-index scores in six domains: Life Evaluation, Emotional Health, Physical Health, Healthy Behavior, Work Environment and Basic Access. The survey will be ongoing with annual updates released each year for the next 25 years.

While the nation’s overall score on the WBI has declined precipitously over the past year, some states are still doing rather well. In general, Western states have the highest well-being scores while the lowest scores are mostly in the South. The top 10 states for well-being appear below, with the average score for overall well-being (out of 100) following in parentheses. As of this writing, the national average score on the WBI is 63.8, down from 66.8 a year ago.

The top 10 states for well-being in America are:

1. Utah (69.2/100)
2. Hawaii (68.2)
3. Wyoming (68.0)
4. Colorado (67.3)
5. Minnesota (67.3)
6. Maryland (67.1)
7. Washington (67.1)
8. Massachusetts (67.0)
9. California (67.0)
10. Arizona (66.8)

Share your thoughts on the rankings in the Healia Health Community for Wellness and Lifestyle.

_{Source: Gallup, Healthways, and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, 2008 State and Congressional Well-Being Reports, 3/09.http://www.ahiphiwire.org/WellBeing/}

_{Photo: Rob Lee, Flickr, Creative Commons}

Two non-profit organizations, the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today released a new report on federal government funding for the fifty states in fiscal year 2008 for publich health disease prevention programs. The report, Shortchanging America's Health: A State-By-State Look at How Federal Public Health Dollars are Spent also examines how the economic downturn could lead to serious cuts to disease prevention and emergency preparedness programs at the state level.

The report found that states receive an average of $17.60 per person from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for public health programs and that annual per capita spending varies widely among the states (ranging from $12.74 and $52.78 per person). The report notes that even at the high end, this level of spending on public health is a tiny fraction of the country's total investment in health. The vast majority of heath spending is invested in treating people after they've become sick. The report authors suggest that spending more money on disease prevention programs up front would lessen the need to spend so much on disease treatment "after the fact."

In tough financial times, the problem of small investment in public health is only expected to get worse, leading to serious long term consequences for the nation’s health and health spending. State funding for public health programs is expected to drop given the widespread budget shortfalls among the states and federal funding is unlikely to make up the all difference. However, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the stimulus package) includes an additional $1 billion for public health programs for next year, which will help provide additional support in many communities.

Below is a list of the top 10 states that received the most funding per state resident from the CDC in fiscal year 2008, followed in parentheses by the dollar amount of per capita spending. It is no coincidence that the list is populated mostly with America’s smallest states: some public health programs funded by the CDC are not apportioned by population, giving smaller states a larger amount per person.

The top 10 states for federal public health funding per capita are:

1. Alaska ($52.78)
2. Vermont ($35.15)
3. Wyoming ($32.43)
4. Rhode Island ($32.09)
5. New Mexico ($30.94)
6. South Dakota ($29.12)
7. North Dakota ($27.45)
8. Hawaii ($25.55)
9. Delaware ($24.98)
10. Montana ($24.33)

Interested in learning more about disease prevention? Join the Healia Health Community for Wellness and Lifestyle.

_{Source: Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Shortchanging America's Health: A State-By-State Look at How Federal Public Health Dollars are Spent, 3/09. http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/shortchanging09.pdf}

_{Photo: jswieringa, Flickr, Creative Commons}

Deaths due to cigarette smoking have declined since the 1960s thanks to a parallel decline in smoking rates. When the Surgeon General first reported that smoking may be hazardous to your health in 1964, about 42 percent of American adults smoked. The most recent data available show that this rate has now dropped below twenty percent (19.8%) for the first time on record. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs report shows that overall death rates from smoking declined in all but one state (Oklahoma) between 1996-1999 and 2000-2004. Below is a list of the states with the lowest rates of smoking-related deaths, followed in parentheses by the smoking-attributable death rate per 100,000 residents and the percent change in that death rate between 1996-1999 and 2000-2004.

The top 10 states with the lowest rates of smoking-related deaths for 2000-2004 are:

1. Utah (138.3 deaths per 100,000 residents, -11.0% change)
2. Hawaii (167.6, -28.0%)
3. Minnesota (215.1, -14.4%)
4. North Dakota (225.6, -10.9%)
5. New Mexico (234, -21.1%)
6. California (235, -37.8%)
7. Nebraska (235.8, -25.9%)
8. Idaho (237.4, -21.5%)
9. Colorado (237.6, -24.3%)
10. Connecticut (238.3, -18.4%)

To find out more about lung diseases related to smoking, visit the Healia Health Community for Lung Diseases. Find help and support to quit smoking at the Healia Health Community for Smoking.

_{Source: Adhikari B et al "State-specific smoking-attributable mortality and years of potential life lost-United States 2000-2004" MMWR 2009; 58:29-33. http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5802a2.htm}

Photo: Paraflyer, Flickr, Creative Commons

Smoking rates—and smoking-related deaths—have declined pretty steadily in the United States since a 1964 Surgeon General’s report that suggested smoking may be hazardous to your health. At that time, around 42 percent of American adults smoked. The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that for the first time on record, the smoking rate among U.S. adults has dropped below twenty percent (19.8%). In the CDC's Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs report, the agency reports that overall deaths rates from smoking declined in all but one state between 1996-1999 and 2000-2004. However, the smoking death rate actually increased for women in several states, and many states still have relatively high rates of smoking-related deaths. Below is a list of the states with the highest rates, followed in parenthesis by the smoking-attributable death rate per 100,000 residents and the percent change in that death rate between 1996-1999 and 2000-2004.

The top 10 states with the highest rates of smoking-related deaths for 2000-2004 are:

1. Kentucky (370.6 deaths per 100,000 residents, -13.3% change)
2. West Virginia (344.3, -21.5%)
3. Nevada (343.7, -44.4%)
4. Mississippi (333.6, -9.4%)
5. Oklahoma (332.1 +26.9%)
6. Tennessee (325, -12.4%)
7. Arkansas (323.7, -9.8%)
8. Alabama (317.5 -5.9%)
9. Indiana (308.9, -14.4%)
10. Missouri (307.8, -27.3%)

To find out more about lung diseases related to smoking, visit the Healia Health Community for Lung Diseases. Find help and support to quit smoking at the Healia Health Community for Smoking.

_{Source: Adhikari B et al "State-specific smoking-attributable mortality and years of potential life lost-United States 2000-2004" MMWR 2009; 58:29-33. http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5802a2.htm}

_{Photo: Saudi..., Flickr, Creative Commons}

Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks all reported births and deaths in the United States, including teen birth rates, and releases that information part of the National Vital Statistics Reports. The just-released report for the year 2006 shows that the birth rate for teenagers aged 15–19 years increased, up 3 percent from 2005 after declining for the previous 14 years. Teen birth rates increased significantly in 26 states between 2005 and 2006, representing nearly every region of the country. But not every state was affected; some states have teen birth rates that are less than half of the national average. Below is a list of the states with the lowest teen birth rates in 2006. The rates per 1,000 females aged 15-19 are listed in parentheses.

The top 10 states with the lowest teen birth rates for 2006 are:

1. New Hampshire (18.7 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19). Virtually unchanged from a year ago, New Hampshire has the lowest teen birthrate in the nation, as it did in 2005.
2. Vermont (20.8). New Hampshire’s Northeastern neighbor was also second on the list last year and saw little change in the teen pregnancy rate in 2006.
3. Massachusetts (21.3). Another New England state, Massachusetts also had no change in its teen birth rate from last year and is less than half of the national average.
4. Connecticut (23.5). This densely populated state had a similar teen birth rate in 2006 as in 2005, but this represents a decrease of 42 percent since 1991.      
5. New Jersey (24.9). The Garden State actually saw a six percent increase in teen births from 2005, but remains in the fifth spot.
6. New York (25.7). The Nation’s second largest state saw a three percent decline in teen birth rate from 2005 to 2006, climbing two spots on the list.
7. Maine (25.8). Maine’s teen birth rate stayed about the same in 2006 but the state dropped one spot after being passed up by New York.
8. North Dakota (26.5). This Northern state saw only modest declines in the teen birth rate form the years 1991 to 2005: 16 percent was the smallest decline in the country. But they are making up for that now, with the teen birth rate declining 11 percent in the last year alone.
9. Rhode Island (27.8). With a decline of 11 percent over the 2005 teen birth rate, the Nation’s smallest state moved up four spots and into the top ten.
10. Minnesota (27.9). A seven percent increase in teen birth rate dropped Minnesota down three spots to number ten on the list.

If you have questions about teenage pregnancy, join the Healia Health Community for Teen Health or the Healia Health Community for Pregnancy, or ask the experts at Healia Health Communities.

Related blog post: The Top 10 States with the Highest Teen Birth Rates

_{Source: CDC, Births: Final data for 2006. National vital statistics reports; vol 57 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2009. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_07.pdf}

_{Photo: LabGP&SigOther, Flickr, Creative Commons}