New Haven is Connecticut's Least Healthy County: Report

New Haven County has the undesirable status as the least healthy county in Connecticut, according to a new study.

Conducted by the Population Health Institute in the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the study measured the health of Connecticut's eight counties in several categories.  

New Haven County was ranked eighth (out of eight) for “health outcomes,” which measures “how long people live and how healthy people feel while alive,” according to the study.

The county also ranked seventh for “health factors,” an all-encompassing category that includes information about personal health (like level of alcohol and tobacco use), proximity and level of health care, socioeconomic factors (like income and education), and physical environment (like air quality).

To summarize some of the findings (note: New Haven County is compared to Tolland County, which ranked the highest in the state):

• The number of premature deaths is 2,000 more than that in Tolland County. 
• 13 percent of New Haven County residents say they are in “poor or fair health” compared to Tolland’s 9 percent.
• The rate of adult smokers and obesity is two percent higher than Tolland.
• The teen birth rate is 29, compared to 9.
• New Haven County's high school graduation rate is 5 percent lower and unemployment is 2 percent higher.

For more results, see the attached PDFs or view the website.

The study's goal is to provide the information to communities so they can make informed decisions about health policies and practices.

“Just how people go to the doctor to go get a physical each year for their own personal health, this provides a checkup for the whole community to see how they are doing as a whole,” said Julie Willems VanDijk, associate scientist at the University of Wisconsin.

Representatives from the the Connecticut Department of Health and the New Haven Health Department could not be immediately reached for comment.

“It takes a lot more than good medical care for people to live a long healthy life,” VanDijk said.

Here's a few sites with information on ways to stay healthy:

• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
• National Health Information Center
• East Shore District Health Department