Flathead seventh in county health ranking

Flathead County came in seventh in a health ranking of counties in Montana that looked at smoking and drinking, access to health professionals, lost work days, education levels, household incomes, crime and many other factors.

The 2013 rankings were released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute. The compiled data for the entire U.S. can be found online at www.countyhealthrankings.org.

The survey ranked 46 of Montana’s 56 counties. The top 10 counties were Gallatin, Granite, Madison, Toole, Daniels, Missoula, Flathead, Pondera, Park and Fergus. The bottom five counties were Roosevelt, Glacier, Blaine, Big Horn and Deer Lodge.

Gallatin came in No. 1 for the fourth straight year. It had the lowest obesity rate at 17 percent and one of the lowest smoking rates at 12 percent. Yellowstone County dropped five places to 19th.

Results for Flathead County included:

• Ranked 9th among Montana’s counties for potential years lost before age 75.

• Ranked 13th for morbidity, with 13 percent of the county’s 91,301 residents reporting poor or fair health, an average of 3.6 lost work days per month due to poor physical health, an average of 3.1 lost work days per month due to poor mental health, and 6.2 percent of live births underweight.

• Ranked 9th for health behavior, with 13 percent of residents smoking more than 100 cigarettes and still smoking, 22 percent being obese, 20 percent being inactive, 18 percent drinking excessively, 26 residents per 100,000 dying in fatal vehicle crashes, 254 women per 100,000 with chlamydia (a sexually transmitted disease), and 36 births per 1,000 by 15-19-year-old mothers.

• Ranked 11th for clinical care, with 22 percent of county residents uninsured, one primary physician per 1,398 residents, one dentist per 1,767 residents, 47 Medicare enrollees per 1,000 needing ambulatory care for sensitive conditions, 84 percent of Medicare enrollees receiving diabetes screening, and 70 percent of Medicare enrollees getting mammography screening.

• Ranked 33rd for social-economic conditions, with an 80 percent high school graduation rate, 61 percent of county residents reporting having some college education, 10.7 percent unemployment, 19 percent of children living in poverty, 16 percent of adults with no social or emotional support, 20 percent of children in a single-parent household, and 332 residents per 100,000 involved in a violent crime.

• Ranked 25th for physical environment, with a 9.9 ranking for daily fine particulate matter in the air compared to 8.3 for Montana and 8.8 in the U.S., 4 percent of county residents exposed to drinking water that exceeded violation levels in the past year, 14 fitness or recreation facilities per 100,000 residents, 4 percent of residents being low income and not living within 10 miles of a grocery store for rural residents or within one mile for urban residents, and 40 percent of restaurants serving “fast food” compared to 42 percent in Montana and 27 percent in the U.S.

• Unranked data included 6 percent of county residents having diabetes, 26 per 100,000 having HIV, 397 per 100,000 dying of infant mortality, 57 per 100,000 dying before reaching 18 years old, one mental health provider per 3,786 residents, 15 percent saying they cannot afford to see a doctor, 30 percent of children being eligible for a free lunch at school, 36 percent of households with housing costs greater than 30 percent of their household income, three homicides per 100,000 residents, 77 percent of residents commuting to work alone, and 19 percent of residents living within half a mile of a park.