New County Health Rankings Reveal Strengths, Gaps In Iredell

Mooresville NC

23 April, 2021

2:22 PM

Description

IREDELL COUNTY, NC — Iredell County is considered among the most healthy in North Carolina, according to this year's recently released County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. Published annually for the last decade, County Health Rankings is a program led by the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute. The goal of the rankings is to help communities better address disparities in health care access. The rankings look at a variety of measures that affect a community's health, including high school graduation rates and access to healthy foods. Rates for smoking, obesity and teen births are also incorporated. In addition to assigning each county a number ranking, this year's rankings also compare each county to other counties in a state before placing it in one of four tiers, or quartiles, ranging from most to least healthy. Overall, Iredell County was ranked No. 15 among all counties in North Carolina. In health outcomes and health factors, our county was ranked in the top tier, meaning it is ranked higher than 75 percent of other counties in North Carolina. The 2021 County Health Rankings do not reflect coronavirus cases or deaths, according to researchers, who released this year's findings mainly to provide a glimpse at what influenced a community's health long before the COVID-19 pandemic. "These gaps in opportunity have to be addressed if we want a fair, inclusive, and equitable recovery from the pandemic," the organization wrote on its website. The organization said it anticipates coronavirus data will be reflected in the 2022 rankings. It also noted that counties that went into the pandemic with fewer opportunities to better resident health will exit it with "an even greater burden." "This crisis has only deepened the avoidable and unfair gaps that Black, Latino, Indigenous, and some Asian-American communities faced pre-COVID-19 in jobs with fair pay, housing, education, and more," the organization said on its website. Here's a look at Iredell County's health outcomes: Health Outcomes Premature death: 7,300 (State rate: 7,600) Adults reporting fair or poor health: 17 percent Physically unhealthy days reported in the past 30 days: 3.6 Mentally unhealthy days reported in the past 30 days: 4.4 Live births with low birth weight: 8 percent Health Factors - Health Behaviors Adult smokers: 19 percent Adult obesity: 35 percent Healthy Food Environment Index: 8.0 Physical inactivity: 23 percent Residents with access to exercise opportunities: 67 percent Excessive drinking: 22 percent Driving deaths attributed to alcohol impairment: 26 percent Sexually transmitted infections: 414.9 Teen births: 20 Health Factors - Clinical Uninsured residents: 12 percent Primary care physicians: 1,360: 1 Dentists: 1,840: 1 Mental health providers: 520: 1 Preventable hospital stays: 4,714 Mammography screenings: 45 percent Flu vaccinations: 53 percent Health Factors - Social And Economic High school completion: 89 percent College education: 66 percent Unemployment: 3.6 percent Children in poverty: 12 percent Income inequality: 4.4 Children in single-parent households: 21 percent Social associations: 11.2 Violent crime: 254 Injury deaths: 73 County Health Rankings used data from a variety of sources to compile this year's rankings. To see a list of data sources, read North Carolina's full report. See this year's health snapshot and numbers for Iredell County.