Trust for America's Health Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

W.Va. One of Four States with Increasing Obesity Rates, Report Finds

Five states, including West Virginia, have adult obesity rates above 35%, according to the 2016 State of Obesity Report. American’s waistlines have been steadily increasing since data collection began in 1990, but the problem is particularly acute in the Southeast and Midwest.

“Approximately 38% of the adult population in West Virginia are obese, a very concerning percentage for an indicator of poor health and risk for diabetes, heart disease and another of other health concerns,” said John Auerbach, president and CEO of Trust for America’s Health. Trust for America’s Health is one of two groups, along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, that produced the report.

“West Virginia was not the only state with an increase this year, there were three other states, but 45 states are following the trend that we’ve seen for the last year or two, which is a stabilization of the obesity rates,” he said.

Although we are seeing a stabilization of weight gain trends, he said, the rates across the country are much higher than they were a decade or two ago. Additionally, stabilization may be at risk.

“We have found that the programs that are helpful in states are in danger of being reduced in terms of their funding,” he said. “And those includes the Centers for Disease Control funding, which gives grants to West Virginia and other states to work on these issues and other issues as well as programs like WIC, Head Start and child and adult care food programs.”

Auerbach said the foundation believes it’s important not to lose ground on those programs. Rather, they should be funded more aggressively, particularly focusing on access to healthy food issues, including healthy school lunches.

But the most effective programs, he said, are those that integrate public and private sector efforts, including workplace involvement, federal funding, more activity and nutrition in the school day and better infrastructure for walking and biking.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

West Virginia 1 of 3 States with Obesity Rates Over 35%

New government data shows that in most states, the rate of adult obesity is not moving.

Results from a telephone survey show obesity rates stayed about the same in 45 states last year. There were small increases in Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Utah.

Some experts said they are glad, overall, that obesity rates aren’t getting worse.

The 2014 survey found that in 22 states, 30 percent or more of the population was obese. They were mostly in the South and Midwest. Three states — Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia – had obesity rates over 35 percent.

The government Monday released the rates, which were analyzed in a separate report by the advocacy group, Trust for America’s Health.

West Virginia’s Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Karen Bowling released the following statement in response to the report:

The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that West Virginia along with 33 other states experienced increases in the adult obesity rate. Obesity and tobacco use are the leading causes of most of the chronic disease challenges that we are facing as a State. This underscores the urgency and importance of the work that the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources is undertaking with our partners in developing a State Health Improvement Plan that identifies obesity as a priority. One goal is to reduce obesity to 33% by 2020. DHHR is working with communities, health care systems, and decision-makers to develop initiatives improving access to physical activity and nutritious options. In 2015, DHHR invested 114 mini-grants geared toward making healthy foods and physical activity accessible to more communities.

We have seen more than 90,000 patients with high blood pressure achieve control, and more than 102,000 are in adherence to their medication regimens. We are committed to improving hypertension, diabetes and prediabetes outcomes through screening and referrals to community-based self-management programs.

W.Va. Ranks Highest in the Nation in Preventable Deaths, Report Says

Despite taking many steps to prevent injuries, West Virginia ranks highest for the number of injury-related deaths in the United States. That’s according to a new report published this week that looks state-by-state at injury prevention policy.

Many of the injury-related deaths that put West Virginia in the lead nationally are attributed to drug overdoses, according to data compiled by Trust for America’s Health (TFAH). The organization published the new report along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Its title: The Facts Hurt: A State-By-State Injury Prevention Policy Report

“Injuries are not just acts of fate. Research show they are pretty predictable and they are actually very preventable,” said TFAH Executive Director, Jeff Levy on a conference call discussing his organization’s new report.

“Overall, West Virginia has the highest rate of injury-deaths at 97.9 deaths per 100,000 people. New York the lowest at 40.3 deaths per 100,000 people.”

Levy said West Virginia has implemented policies very recently that will hopefully help curb those numbers in coming years – perhaps most importantly, policies to address the drug epidemic the state and nation face. More specifically, a new law went into effect last month, the Opioid Antagonist Act, which expands access to the overdose-counteracting drug Naloxone, allowing addicts and family members the ability to purchase the medicine through a prescription. Levy says drug overdoses became the leading cause of injury-related death in the nation about four years ago, surpassing motor vehicle deaths. Almost half of drug-related deaths are from prescription pill overdoses.

“Prescription drug abuse is a national epidemic,” Levy said, “but it impacts some states much more than others. West Virginia had the highest number of overdose and poisoning deaths. 33.5 per 100,000 people.”

But while more than 2 million Americans misuse drugs, the report says, there are a myriad of other ways to die by injury such as motor vehicle accidents, homicides and suicides. The report also points to traumatic brain injuries, warning that TBIs from sports and recreation among children have increased by 60 percent in the last decade. And one in three Americans older than 64 experiences a serious fall each year. While falls aren’t often fatal, they can lead to fatal complications and are a major concern in a state like West Virginia with an aging population. And increases in falls nationwide are anticipated as the Baby Boomer generation ages.

The Facts Hurt says preventable accidents cost the U.S. billions of dollars in medical care that could be better spent on other critical matters in the state and nation, like education and infrastructure projects.

The Trust for America's Health Says Yes to EPA's Proposal

The Trust for America’s Health, a non-profit, non-partisan organization in Washington D.C. working to make disease prevention a national priority, likes the EPA’s new carbon emissions rules.

The Executive Director of the Trust for American’s Health, Dr. Jeffrey Levi, says he’s pleased that the EPA is moving forward with plans to issue carbon pollution standards for existing power plants. He says, the nation is already experiencing longer allergy seasons and record temperatures due to climate change and pollution, and without urgent action to control carbon pollution, communities across the country are at-risk for further negative health effects.

Levi says the proposal also marks another critical step in President Obama’s Climate Action Plan because it comes on the heels of the recently released National Climate Assessment, which was the latest in a string of actions to address the serious effects climate change is having on the nation’s health.

Levi notes that the Trust for America’s Health is seeing more illnesses, injuries, and health problems related to extreme weather events, rising temperatures and worsening air quality all stemming from natural disasters, reduced water resources, and new insect-based infectious diseases that, previously, were only affiliated with regions with very high temperatures.

Report: W.Va. Response to Disease Threats Lagging

A report by two health advocacy groups says West Virginia is lagging in its approach to handling infectious disease threats.

The report released Tuesday by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says West Virginia met four of 10 indicators of preparedness.

     The report says West Virginia didn’t maintain or increase funding for public health programs from the 2011-12 to 2012-13 fiscal year.

     The state also has gaps in the percentage of residents vaccinated for flu and whooping cough and has no policy requiring a cervical cancer vaccine for teens.

     West Virginia did meet indicators for routine HIV screening, health facility reporting of infections and public health lab readiness.

     A Department of Health and Human Resources spokeswoman says state officials are reviewing the report.