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The annual County Health Rankings are out, and Luzerne County fared poorly almost anyway you look at it, ranking 63rd of the state’s 67 counties in health outcomes (length and quality of life) and 60th in health factors (exercise, smoking, alcohol use, for example).
The rankings are compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
The Health Outcomes ranking uses five factors, with the premature death rate counting for half the ranking and the remaining four factors combined for the other half.
• Premature death rate: This is the years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,00 population. For Luzerne County, it was 8,900 years, putting us 59th out of 67 counties. Centre County had the lowest rate in the state at 3,900, while Fayette County in the southwest corner of the state had the highest rate at 10,500.
• Poor or fair health: The percentage of adults reporting fair or poor health. Luzerne County had the second highest rate in the state, 17 percent, with only Philadelphia posting a worse rate at 20 percent. Chester and Butler counties were tied for the best rate at 11 percent.
• Poor physical health days: The average number of physically unhealthy days reported in the last 30 days (the data is from 2016). For Luzerne County, it was four days, slightly worse that the overall state rate of 3.9 days. While four other counties had the same number as us, only Philadelphia was worse at 4.5 days. If you want to have more healthy days, consider Chester County, which had the state’s best rate at three days.
• Poor mental health days: Same as the previous measure but related to mental health. Luzerne residents average 4.2 poor mental health days in one month, which may sound bad but actually was a little better than the state rate overall, at 4.3 days. The best rate was Montgomery County at 3.4 days, while Philadelphia, though adjacent to Montgomery, landed at the bottom with 4.6 days.
• Low birthweight: The study looked at data from 2011 to 2017, with less than 2,500 grams (about 5.5 pounds) as the threshold. The percentage of low birthweight babies in Luzerne County was 8 percent, the same as the state rate. Union and Bedford counties had the lowest rate, 5 percent, while Philadelphia again was at the bottom with 11 percent.
Health factors
The health factors ranking uses 30 factors grouped into four broad categories: ”health behaviors,” “clinical care,” “social and economic factors” and “physical environment.”
Luzerne County did fairly well in clinical care, a measure of uninsured people (6 percent, below the state rate of 7 percent); rate of preventable hospital stays per 100,000 Medicare enrollees (4,949, above the state rate of 4,534); rate of annual mammography screenings for women 65-74 (40 percent, below the state rate of 44 percent); rate of flu shots for Medicare enrollees (46 percent, below the state rate of 50 percent); and the ratios of dentist, mental health providers and primary care physicians. Overall, Luzerne ranked 35th of 67 counties.
Luzerne County did worse in health behaviors, ranking 47th. Some highlights: 17 percent of adults smoke, below the state rate of 18 percent; 29 percent of adults are obese, compared to the state rate of 30 percent; 25 percent of adults report no leisure-time physical activity, compared to 22 percent statewide; 20 percent report binge or heavy drinking here while 21 percent do statewide.
Luzerne’s social and economic factors ranking was the lowest among the four categories, 63rd in the state. The county had one of the worst rates of childhood poverty, 25 percent. Only four counties had higher rates: Fayette and Potter counties each had 28 percent, Philadelphia had 32 percent, and Forest County had the highest rate at 34 percent. Statewide, 17 percent of children were living in poverty.
Luzerne also had a high rate of children living in a single-parent household: 40 percent. Five counties had higher rates, with the highest in Philadelphia at 59 percent. The state rate was 34 percent.
The report and additional data is online at www.countyhealthrankings.org.