Sagadahoc County residents, congratulations. You’re the healthiest in Maine.
Somerset County dwellers, bad news. You’re the least healthy.
That’s according to the sixth annual County Health Rankings, released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The rankings offer a snapshot of each state’s health, comparing 30 factors that affect well-being, from education and crime to old fashioned diet and exercise.
After Sagadahoc, the healthiest counties in Maine were Cumberland, Hancock, York and Lincoln.
Piscataquis, Aroostook, Androscoggin and Waldo rounded out the least healthy counties after Somerset.
Sagadahoc has hovered at or near the top of the county health rankings, and Somerset near the bottom, for years. But Oxford County improved its showing significantly, rising from 10th to seventh healthiest in the state.
In Sagadahoc County, residents have access to more health care providers and opportunities to exercise, the report found. It ranked near last, however, for physical environment indicators such as drinking water violations and long solo commutes.
In Somerset County, 34 percent of adults are obese, 26 percent smoke and residents there are more likely to die prematurely than most other areas of the state, the rankings show.
It comes as little surprise that the southern, wealthier counties are home to Maine’s healthiest residents. Mounting evidence indicates that our wealth affects our health, playing a role not only in whether we can afford medical care and insurance, but also our ability to buy healthy food, live in safer neighborhoods and avoid life-draining stress.
The County Health Rankings were released in concert with another new report tracking Maine’s progress on seven key health indicators. The findings from the Health Index Report, compiled by the hospital system MaineHealth, painted a similar picture of health at the local level, said Deborah Deatrick, senior vice president for community health at MaineHealth.
“The Health Index Report enhances the impact of these findings by illustrating trends specific to Maine and identifying opportunities for community health improvement,” she said in a news release.
The index report offered both good news and bad.
Maine’s violent crime rate — 123 cases per 100,000 people — was the lowest in the country. Maine’s youth smoking rate fell to 13 percent in 2013 from 15 percent in 2011, and more fifth-graders are skipping sugary drinks. Maine’s rates for cardiovascular death, as well as for heart disease, coronary heart disease and heart attack, were significantly lower than the U.S. rates in 2010-2012.
But Maine ranked 35th in the nation for toddlers receiving required vaccines on time and 44th in cases of whooping cough, a contagious illness largely preventable with immunization.
The report also examined prescription drug abuse. It tracked the “days supply” for prescription painkillers, or the number of days a medication will last if taken as prescribed, a measure that allows drugs of varying strengths and doses to be compared across regions. Kennebec and Somerset counties had the highest supplies per person in 2014, while Cumberland, Franklin and Sagadahoc had the lowest.
The report highlighted troubling disparities in health among different populations, depending on income, education and geography. For example, 39 percent of adults with less than a high school diploma smoke, compared to 8 percent of college graduates. A quarter of those who earn more than $50,000 a year are obese, while a third of those earning less than $15,000 annually are obese.
