People with Disabilities Are Less Healthy than those without Disabilities
CDC - Media Relations:
For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published a report of state-level data on the number of people with disabilities, and the wide range of health differences that exist between people with disabilities and those without.
The new report, The Disability and Health State Chartbook, 2006 -- Profiles of Health for Adults with Disabilities, will be unveiled at CDC's National Health Promotion Conference scheduled at the Hilton Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia from September 12-14, 2006.
Disability prevalence ranges substantially among the states -- from a low of 11.4 percent to a high of 25.8 percent among people with disabilities.
"The findings in the Chartbook will allow states to measure their progress and will highlight the need to include people with disabilities in health promotion activities to reduce smoking, obesity, and to increase physical activity," said Dr. José Cordero, assistant surgeon general and director of the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.
In addition, the findings in the Chartbook show that people with disabilities are also more likely to smoke, to be obese, and not be physically active.
Highlights of the report include --States with the highest percentages of disability among adults include West Virginia (25.8 percent), Kentucky (24.7 percent), and Oregon (23.7 percent).
The highest prevalence of obesity is reported in Mississippi, Indiana, and North Carolina.
The data were collected from the 2001 and 2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a state-based system that obtains health information through telephone health surveys, with technical assistance provided by CDC.
