Nevada health report getting better

Monday, Nov. 17, 2003 | 10:47 a.m.

Nevada continues to get healthier, ranking as the 36th healthiest of the states, according to a national study released today.

That's a slight improvement compared with the state's rank of 38th last year but it is significantly better than its 46th place ranking in 1990, the first year of the annual report from the nonprofit United Health Foundation.

The report deemed Minnesota and New Hampshire as the nation's healthiest states, while Mississippi and Louisiana ranked as the least healthy.

The report ranked the 50 states based on key public health indicators. Overall, the study said, health in the United States has improved 16.9 percent since 1990, up 1.4 percent from last year's report.

Local health officials said they were pleased to see the report highlight that cigarette use is down. That was the prime reason for Nevada's improvement. But the high number of Nevadans without health insurance remains a major problem, local health officials noted.

Nevada has the third highest percentage of residents who are uninsured, 19.7 percent. In 1990, the state's uninsured population was 20.9 percent, the fourth highest in the nation.

"The uninsured statistic is very troubling," said Fran Courtney, a registered nurse and director of nursing and clinics for the Clark County Health District.

"That statistic reflects that people most likely are not coming in for preventative care -- screenings that identify problems in their early stages, such as cancer, or for immunization or well-baby care. It also reflects that people have to use emergency rooms as their primary care physicians."

Courtney said the Health District's Covering Kids Coalition has, through Nevada Checkup and Medicaid, helped get insurance for 25,000 children in Nevada whose parents do not have health insurance, but "there is a lot of room for improvement."

One of the driving factors in Nevada's overall improvement is that people are kicking the cigarette habit. In 1990, Nevada ranked worst in the nation with nearly 36 percent of the population lighting up. In the most recent study, Nevada ranked 38th because 26 percent of Nevadans smoke.

"We're absolutely pleased to see this improvement, but we have a lot of work to do," said Kendall Stagg, executive director of the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition, which is comprised of 45 organizations.

Stagg noted that Nevada still has one of the highest per-capita cancer death rates in the nation.

The United Health Foundation study also points out that in Nevada there are 219 cancer deaths per 100,000 population, the sixth highest rate among the states. In 1990, Nevada had 217 deaths per 100,000 residents, the study says.

"Smoking is the No. 1 risk factor for cancer," Stagg said. "Every year in Nevada more people die from smoking than from AIDS, murder, suicide, car accidents, illegal drug use and alcohol combined. That is why such a small improvement (in statistics) makes a huge gain."

Buffy Martin, the American Cancer Society's government relations director for Nevada, said the Legislature's increase of the cigarette excise tax this year, to 80 cents per pack from 35 cents per pack.

"One of our greatest impacts with the increase in the excise tax (that went into effect in July) has been on the youth, who are reaching the point they cannot afford cigarettes anymore," Martin said.

"This will be significant in reducing the number of smokers in future studies because about 90 percent of adult smokers start smoking before age 16."

But, Martin said, because municipal governments in Nevada cannot set public smoking policies and because the Legislature meets only every other year, the process to change laws to help reduce smokers is slow.

"Sometimes it's difficult to get laws passed," she said. "(At the recent Legislature) we introduced a bill to ban smoking in video arcades and day care centers, and it failed. It's a tough battle, but not one that we will stop fighting."

The release of the foundation's study comes just days before the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout Thursday. Nevadans who want to quit smoking are encouraged to call toll-free (800) 227-2345 for information on cessation programs and support, Martin said.

Other Nevada strengths in the study done in cooperation with the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention, are:

Another of Nevada's major weaknesses, according to the survey, is a high total mortality rate of about 942 per 100,000 population, the 10th highest in the nation. It is an improvement over the state's 1990 rate, however, when Nevada had 953 deaths per 100,000 residents. That was the third highest mortality rates among the states that year, according to the study.

Utilizing data from the U.S. Department of Health, U.S. Department of Commerce, Education and Labor, the National Safety Council and the National Association of State Budget Officers, the health measures are divided into nine "risk factors" and eight "outcomes."

Nevada ranked 37th for the risk factors and 31st for outcomes -- not a healthy sign, the study says.

"The state's relative health may decline in the future if the risk factors are not addressed," the study said.

Overall, Nevada's score based on the risk factors and outcomes was 4.6 points below the national norm. That, however, is an improvement over 2002, when Nevada was 5.8 points under the average national score, and a significant improvement over 1990 when Nevada was 9.5 points below the national number.