Kansas

Kansas is 16^th this year; it was 20^th in 2003. Strengths include a low rate of uninsured population at 11.0 percent, high access to adequate prenatal care with 81.0 percent of pregnant women receiving adequate prenatal care, a moderate prevalence of smoking at 20.4 percent of the population, a low incidence of infectious disease at 10.4 cases per 100,000 population and a low number of limited activity days per month at 1.4 days in the previous 30 days. The state's challenges are a higher than average occupational fatalities rate at 6.6 deaths per 100,000 workers and moderate support for public health with 3.1 percent of the state health budget allocated to public health. Kansas is 15^th for the combined measures of risk factors and 25^th for the combined measures of outcomes, implying the state is on a positive course and may be able to improve its relative healthiness in future years. Disparity among races for access to prenatal care is low compared to other states, but premature death rates indicate strong differences between non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites, with 12,998 years lost compared to 6,862 years of life lost per 100,000 population.

In the past year, the rate of motor vehicle deaths decreased from 1.8 to 1.6 deaths per 100,000,000 miles driven, and the prevalence of smoking decreased from 22.1 percent to 20.4 percent of the population.

Since 1990, the prevalence of smoking has decreased from 30.2 percent to 20.4 percent of the population, the rate of deaths from cardiovascular disease has declined from 367.6 to 321.8 deaths per 100,000 population and the total mortality rate has increased from 819.2 to 863.2 deaths per 100,000 population.

To learn more about health and health initiatives in Kansas, visit the Kansas state department of health Web site at: www.kdhe.state.ks.us/

A dash (--) indicates data not available.
* Data sources and/or methdology may not be comparable for this year.