MADISON, Wis. – Bristol County was named Rhode Island’s healthiest county by the Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health’s county health ranking report.
The report – released Friday, March 30, and produced in conjunction with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – ranked nearly every county in the country by assessing their “health outcomes” and “health factors.”
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The “health outcomes” category included the rate of people dying before age 75, the percentage of people reported in fair or poor health, the number of days in poor mental health and the low-birth weight rate in infants.
To measure “health factors,” researchers analyzed things like high school graduation rates, access to healthy foods, air pollution levels, income and rates of smoking, obesity and teen births.
“The rankings really show us with solid data that there is a lot more to health than health care,” said Dr. Patrick Remington, director of the county health ranking project at the University of Wisconsin.
Bristol County ranked highest in both health outcomes and health factors, earning it the spot of Rhode Island’s healthiest County.
In health outcomes the Ocean State’s five counties were ranked as follows: Bristol County, Newport County, Washington County, Kent County and Providence County. In health factors, Washington County was ranked second above Newport County.
The Ocean State counties were ranked in the same order in the 2011 report, but in 2010, Washington County took the top spot for health outcomes, followed by Newport County and Bristol County.
“Where we live, learn, work and play affect our health, and we need to use the information from the rankings to shine a spotlight on where we need to improve so we can take action to address our problems,” Remington said.
Bristol County boasted a 89 percent high school graduation rate, 90 percent access to healthy foods and only 17 percent of its population was listed as “single-parent households.” It also had the lowest violent crime rate in the state 76:100,000.
Comparatively, Providence County reported a 73 percent high school graduation rate – the lowest in the state, 95 percent access to healthy foods and 41 percent of its population was listed as “single-parent households.”
The violent crime rate in Providence County was 326 for every 100,000 residents.
“It’s hard to lead a healthy life if you don’t live in a healthy community,” said Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “The County Health Rankings are an annual check-up for communities to know how healthy they are and where they can improve.”
While Bristol County won the top spot in Rhode Island, there was still room for improvement. The county listed a 21 percent adult obesity rate, with 84 percent of its residents having access to diabetic screenings, according to the report.
Massachusett’s Bristol County was ranked 12th in the report, falling ahead of only Suffolk and Hampden Counties, which ranked 13th and 14th, respectively.
To see the full report visit http://www.countyhealthrankings.org.
