LOUISIANA
Ranking:
Louisiana is 49th this year; it was 50th in
2006.
Strengths:
Strengths include ready access to adequate prenatal care with 82.8
percent of pregnant women receiving adequate prenatal care, a low
prevalence of binge drinking at 13.1 percent of the population and
few poor mental and physical health days per month at 3.2 days and
3.3 days in the previous 30 days, respectively.
Challenges:
Challenges include low immunization coverage with 72.3 percent of
children ages 19 to 35 months receiving complete immunizations, a
high infant mortality rate at 9.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, a
high premature death rate with 10,802 years of potential life lost
before age 75 per 100,000 population, a high rate of uninsured
population at 21.9 percent, a high percentage of children in
poverty at 23.8 percent of persons under age 18, a high rate of
preventable hospitalizations with 111.9 discharges per 1,000
Medicare enrollees and a high rate of cancer deaths at 221.9
deaths per 100,000 population. Louisiana ranks lower for health
determinants than for health outcomes, indicating that overall
healthiness may continue to remain low.
Significant
Changes:
↑ In the past
year, the rate of uninsured population increased from 17.7 percent
to 21.9 percent.
↑ In the past
year, the violent crime rate increased from 597 to 698 offenses
per 100,000 population.
↓ In the past
year, the prevalence of obesity declined from 30.8 percent to 27.1
percent of the population.
↓ Since 1990,
the percentage of children in poverty decreased from 38.5 percent
to 23.8 percent of persons under age 18.
Health
Disparities:
In Louisiana,
blacks experience 54 percent more premature death than whites. In
the large metropolitan areas, residents in the central counties
experience 47 percent more premature death than residents in the
fringe counties.
State Health
Department Web Site:
www.oph.dhh.state.la.us/
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