Health Behavior by Race, Ethnic Groups Is Detailed

Mississippians battle the bulge with less success than the rest of us--22% of them are obese--while nearly 25% of Texans have no health insurance, and more than half of North Dakotans say they don’t always wear a seat belt.

Which state has the most drinkers? Wisconsin, where residents also confessed to the most binge drinking.

The findings come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which on Thursday released a survey of health behavior broken down by race and ethnic groups for each state and Puerto Rico.

The numbers, culled from 1997 telephone interviews with 134,000 people, highlight continuing disparities among whites and other racial groups when it comes to such factors as high blood pressure, obesity and lack of access to medical care.

The report, which contains data on 20 health topics, is the first time the CDC has collated such a wide range of information for each state on a comparative basis, said the report’s author, Julie Bolen of the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

The report is intended to help state health departments compare their prevention activities to those of other states and see which are successful.

The Clinton administration wants to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities by 2010 in six areas: cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV and AIDS, immunization and infant mortality.

Bolen said the report is designed to further that goal, especially as nonwhites are projected to make up nearly half the U.S. population by 2050.

The survey topics included Pap tests, seat belt use and cigarette smoking.

Texas led the nation in the percentage of uninsured residents mainly because of its large Latino population. Nearly half of the state’s Latinos--44.9%--said they had no health insurance. By contrast, only 6.1% of Hawaiians said they had no insurance.

Women in Georgia reported the highest rate of having a Pap test within the preceding three years--92%--while Puerto Ricans were the lowest at 71.8%.

Utah and Puerto Rico reported the least drinking, defined as having a drink in the last month. Only 6.3% of those in Maryland admitted to binge drinking, or having five or more drinks on a single occasion. That was the lowest binge-drinking rate in the nation.

The report found bad news concerning colorectal cancer screening.

Fewer than a third of adults over 50 reported having completed a home blood stool test, with 18% the median response. Maine led the country in such screening, with 28.5%. Only 9.3% of Mississippi residents had performed such a test.

Georgians called themselves the most sedentary, with more than 51% reporting no leisure-time physical activity. Utah had the highest activity rate at 17.2%.

The obesity rate was lowest in Colorado at 11.9%.

In North Dakota, 59.8% of survey participants said they don’t always wear a seat belt. Californians buckled up the most--only 12.8% said they don’t always put on the belt.

The CDC said people with more education generally have higher-paying jobs and are more likely to have health insurance and use the health care system.

The survey is obviously limited by how honest survey participants were. Obesity rates were calculated based on how tall and heavy people described themselves.