THE Lake County General Health District announced that the county ranked among the healthiest for health outcomes and health factors in the “Counties Health Rankings 2023.”
THE Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – the nation’s largest public health philanthropy, headquartered in New Jersey – in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Institute of Population Healthrecently released its comprehensive annual report that ranks the overall health of nearly every county in all 50 states using a standardized methodology to measure health factors and outcomes.
According to the study, for more than 12 years, data from the report has shown how a wide range of factors influence people’s life and well-being.
This year, the results focus on the connection between civic health and thriving people and places. According to the findings, civic health reflects the opportunities people have to participate in their communities.
In addition, two elements of civic health were examined:
• Civic infrastructure: includes spaces, such as schools, parks and libraries that help people stay connected, as well as policies and practices that promote belonging, making civic participation possible
• Civic participation: includes the ways in which people engage in community life to improve conditions and shape the future of the community, including political activities, such as voting and advocacy, and community activities, such as that volunteering and mentoring
According to the report, health outcomes further include measures of length and quality of life, and health factors include behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and the physical environment.
Overall, Lake County dropped in its ranking from 12th in 2022 to 16th in 2023 for health outcomes and dropped slightly from 15th in 2022 to 18th in 2023 for health factors.
According to ranking data, Lake County ranks better than Ohio County and national averages in the following categories: percentage of physical inactivity; access to exercise opportunities; teenage births; flu shots; high school diplomas; people who have attended college; children living in poverty; income inequality; and air pollution.
Additionally, Lake County saw an improvement in the percentage of residents reporting poor or fair health from 17% in 2022 to 13% in 2023, as well as the average number of days per month in poor physical health, from 4 days in 2022 at 2.9. in 2023.
The county also had areas that will require additional review, the report said.
Although Lake County ranks among the best in percentage of physical activity and access to exercise opportunities, it is slightly above the national average and other Ohio county averages for obesity in adults.
Lake County is also higher than the national average and other Ohio county averages for adult smoking and alcohol-impaired driving.
The average number of social associations in Lake County is also slightly lower than the national average and other Ohio county averages, officials noted.
Despite the need for improvement in the detailed categories, Health Commissioner Ron Graham said the district is very pleased that Lake County continues to be one of the healthiest counties in Ohio.
“A challenge with the rankings is that the health criteria often change, which impacts the score and makes it difficult to compare data from year to year,” he explained. “We use the most recent data available, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Indexthat provides context to health factors and outcomes.
You will find other rankings on www.countyhealthrankings.org/.