Categorized |Public Safety
New health data released Tuesday indicates that Tennessee ranks 39th in the country for overall health, up two spots from 2011.
Shelby County ranks 59th for health outcomes. However, the county still falls short of national benchmarks for many health factors, including rates of smoking (19 percent), obesity (34 percent) and physical inactivity (29 percent).
Tennessee’s continued poor results for sedentary lifestyle (48th), violent crime, (47th) and diabetes (44th), contributed to its low national ranking.
However, the state performed well for low prevalence of binge drinking (first) and moderately well for availability of primary care physicians (20th) and per-capital public health funding (21st).
The statistics are part of the 2012 America’s Health Rankings, an annual assessment of the nation’s health created by United Health Foundation in collaboration with the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention.
