 Nationwide, our bodymass ratio is above "normal". We’re fat. We don’t get enough exercise. We eat the wrong things. We smoke. We don’t see the doctor enough – and when we do, he tells 6 out of 100 of us that we’ve had a heart attack and have coronary disease. A “lucky few” will find out they have diabetes.
That’s the news from the Kentucky Health Department from its 2007 health survey of Kentuckians.
Almost a third (30.3 percent) of Kentucky adults reported they did not participate in any physical activities or exercise such as running, golf, gardening or walking for exercise, other than their regular jobs.
Around 70 percent of Kentuckians are overweight or obese.
Kentucky adults reported some of the highest prevalence of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease, in the nation.
More than 80 percent of Kentuckians reported they did not consume five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
One in 10 adult Kentuckians reported being told by a doctor that they had diabetes.
Approximately 6 % reported they had been told by a doctor that they had coronary heart disease.
6 % reported they had been told by a doctor that they had suffered a heart attack.
3.5 % of Kentuckians reported being told by a doctor that they had suffered a stroke.
28 out of 100 adults reported having smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and now smoke some days or every day.
21.5% of residents of Appalachian counties report “a lack of health care coverage”.
Statewide, almost 16% lack access to health care.
Those with high school diplomas and less have higher rates of health problems.
In the misery loves company department, Kentucky is neither the best or the worst when it comes to obesity and overweight adults. The chart below is from 2007 nationwide statistics.
|
State
|
%
|
State
|
%
|
State
|
%
|
State
|
%
|
|
Alabama
|
30.3
|
Illinois
|
24.9
|
Montana
|
21.8
|
Rhode Island
|
21.4
|
|
Alaska
|
27.5
|
Indiana
|
26.8
|
Nebraska
|
26.0
|
South Carolina
|
28.4
|
|
Arizona
|
25.4
|
Iowa
|
26.9
|
Nevada
|
24.1
|
South Dakota
|
26.2
|
|
Arkansas
|
28.7
|
Kansas
|
26.9
|
New Hampshire
|
24.4
|
Tennessee
|
30.1
|
|
California
|
22.6
|
Kentucky
|
27.4
|
New Jersey
|
23.5
|
Texas
|
28.1
|
|
Colorado
|
18.7
|
Louisiana
|
29.8
|
New Mexico
|
24.0
|
Utah
|
21.8
|
|
Connecticut
|
21.2
|
Maine
|
24.8
|
New York
|
25.0
|
Vermont
|
21.3
|
|
Delaware
|
27.4
|
Maryland
|
25.4
|
North Carolina
|
28.0
|
Virginia
|
24.3
|
|
Washington DC
|
21.8
|
Massachusetts
|
21.3
|
North Dakota
|
26.5
|
Washington
|
25.3
|
|
Florida
|
23.6
|
Michigan
|
27.7
|
Ohio
|
27.5
|
West Virginia
|
29.5
|
|
Georgia
|
28.2
|
Minnesota
|
25.6
|
Oklahoma
|
28.1
|
Wisconsin
|
24.7
|
|
Hawaii
|
21.4
|
Mississippi
|
32.0
|
Oregon
|
25.5
|
Wyoming
|
23.7
|
|
Idaho
|
24.5
|
Missouri
|
27.5
|
Pennsylvania
|
27.1
|
|
|
Sure, there are more excuses than reasons why Kentuckians and Americans in general are fatter and sicker than we could be. The choices we face seem to be starkly simple. Take better care of ourselves or die younger than we could/should.
But for many, especially those of us who live in certain counties or didn’t get to college, the choices are even more difficult. Getting medical treatment without health insurance, getting the right meds to control chronic disease, eating better- where do we start?
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