Strengths:

• Low occupational fatalities rate
• Low prevalence of obesity
• Low rate of uninsured population
• Ready availability of primary care physicians

 

Challenges:

• High prevalence of binge drinking
• High rate of preventable hospitalizations

 

Highlights:

• In the past five years, the rate of uninsured population decreased from 9.8 percent to 4.5 percent.
• In the past ten years, the rate of cancer deaths decreased from 206.9 to 184.4 deaths per 100,000 population.
• In the past year, the incidence of infectious disease decreased from 13.5 to 9.8 cases per 100,000 population.
• Massachusetts has one of the lowest obesity rates in the U.S. at 22.7 percent of the adult population, yet almost 1.2 million adults are obese in the state.
• Ten years ago, the rate of preventable hospitalizations was 84.1 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees; today it is 72.8.

 

Disparities:

• In Massachusetts, sedentary lifestyle is more prevalent among Hispanics at 35.5 percent than non-Hispanic blacks at 26.2 percent and non-Hispanic whites at 18.6 percent; and obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 31.5 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 22.1 percent.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.mass.gov/dph