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Less Smoking, Less Drinking : O.C. Healthier Than Rest of U.S.

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Times Staff Writer

Orange County residents drink less, smoke less and are healthier than Americans around the country, according to a comprehensive health survey released by UC Irvine researchers on Wednesday.

Of residents polled, 58.6% said they were free of nine major diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer, compared to 56% nationwide, the researchers said.

But ironically, when Orange County residents do describe a health problem, they are more likely than residents elsewhere to report several major medical conditions rather than one.

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These findings indicate that “perhaps the health care system (in Orange County) is superior, so we diagnose more diseases,” frequently discovering an illness earlier--”before people die from it,” said Dr. Hoda Anton-Culver, a UCI professor of community and environmental medicine who was part of the four-member survey team.

Their poll, the 1989 Orange County Health Surveys, was the first in a five-year series of surveys assessing the health of Orange County residents.

Funded by $160,000-a-year grants from the Irvine Health Foundation, the surveys not only look at the incidence of disease here but also consider risk factors for illness such as smoking, drinking and obesity. The results released Wednesday were taken from random telephone interviews with 800 residents last October and another 800 residents this June.

The researchers said they hoped that Orange County hospitals and health agencies could use the information--”snapshots” of the county’s health--to shape strategies for preventing illness.

Wiath a poll that focuses on Orange County, “you see problems you would not have expected in the federal data,” said Ray Catalano, a former UCI professor of social ecology who plans to continue work on the health surveys even though he recently accepted an appointment at UC Berkeley.

The surveys revealed some problem areas, researchers said, including indications that young women in Orange County are more likely to be depressed than men or women in other age categories. Some 14.6% of women ages 18 to 34 reported they were depressed contrasted with only 6.2% of men in the same age group, according to the survey.

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Social ecology professor David Dooley said the reason for their depression was unclear, but he theorized that “maybe it’s more difficult for these young women to combine the role of worker and young mother--and achieve a family relationship.”

Still, the overall findings on depression showed that fewer Orange County residents were depressed than residents elsewhere--only 7.2% here compared to 13% in Los Angeles County and the nation. Dooley attributed the difference to a “higher level of affluence” in Orange County. Also, he said, statistics on depression in the Los Angeles area were gathered from 1978 to 1982 during a period of economic recession, when unemployment rates were high.

Other findings from the survey:

*Concern about AIDS is rising. When the interviews began last October, 10% of those surveyed said they knew someone with AIDS, but by the second set of interviews ending in June, 15% reported they knew someone with AIDS, Catalano said.

*About 10% of residents who needed to see a doctor said they did not do so because “it cost too much,” Catalano said. He said later surveys will include questions on obtaining medical care, including whether complicated insurance policies discourage patients from using them.

*Only 17.3% of Orange County residents are overweight, compared to 21% nationally. Of those, 21.2% of Orange County men were overweight compared to 21.8% nationally, but only 13.8% of women are overweight compared to 21.1% nationally. Asked why so many Orange County women were slim, Catalano admitted: “I have no idea.”

*According to the survey, 24.5% of men and 20% of women in Orange County smoke compared to 32.6% of men and 27.9% of women nationally. Also, fewer Orange County residents drink alcohol than nationwide, with 63.6% of men and 46% of women here reporting they drink compared to 76.1% of men and 55.5% of women nationwide.

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Anton-Culver said she believed that the rate of alcohol consumption here was still uncomfortably high, but the low smoking rate showed that “people in Orange County are more concerned about their health.”

*When residents reported their medical conditions, the greatest percentage, 19.2%, reported they were suffering from arthritis. That was followed by kidney and bladder disease (12.4%), heart disease (9.9%), asthma (7.3%), emphysema and bronchitis (5.9%), cancer (5%), diabetes (3.3%), liver disease (2.3%) and stroke (1.4%).

The incidence of arthritis here is higher than the national rate of 13.8%. “It could be that people (with arthritis) migrate into Orange County,” Anton-Culver said.

*In a look at medical problems and smoking, UCI researchers found that many of those with significant medical conditions had given up the habit. “If a disease is probably fatal, they stop smoking,” Anton-Culver said.

At the same time, however, a relatively high number of those with arthritis--26.9% of women and 11.5% of men-- were continuing to smoke. She called that finding surprising and worth additional study.

Orange County vs. The Nation Orange County and National Drinking Rates Current drinkers in percent Age Groups: 30 Males in O.C.: 68 Males in U.S.: 79.2 Females in O.C.: 52.1 Females in U.S.: 64.1 Age Groups: 30-44 Males in O.C.: 65.1 Males in U.S.: 83.3 Females in O.C.: 46.7 Females in U.S.: 63.2 Age Groups: 45-64 Males in O.C.: 60 Males in U.S.: 71.8 Females in O.C.: 44.9 Females in U.S.: 52.5 Age Groups: 65+ Males in O.C.: 54.5 Males in U.S.: 57.6 Females in O.C.: 36.7 Females in U.S.: 34.1 Orange County and Naional Smoking Rates Current smokers in percent Age Groups: 30 Males in O.C.: 24.2 Males in U.S.: 28 Females in O.C.: 17.8 Females in U.S.: 30.4 Age Groups: 30-44 Males in O.C.: 26.5 Males in U.S.: 38 Females in O.C.: 19.5 Females in U.S.: 31.8 Age Groups: 45-64 Males in O.C.: 27.8 Males in U.S.: 33.4 Females in O.C.: 22.7 Females in U.S.: 29.9 Age Groups: 65+ Males in O.C.: 9.1 Males in U.S.: 19.6 Females in O.C.: 20 Females in U.S.: 13.5 Prevalence of Medical Conditions in Orange County and the Nation Residents in Orange County and across the nation were asked if they had any of these diseases-diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, COPD*, asthmas, kidney and bladder disease or cancer. Percent answering none to the above: Orange County: 58.6% Nation: 56% * Obstructive pulmonary disease Note: 1,600 residents of Orange County were surveyed in two separate surveys of 800 each. SOURCES: U.S. Center for Disease Control, Nat’l. Health Interview Survey.

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