Health
This shows the z-scores for health outcomes as measured by YPLL, percent of low-birthweight babies and percent of those reporting unhealthy days, either physically or mentally. Every county but one, Spalding County, scores better than the state average on these measures.
Notes:
YPLL = Years of Potential Life Lost Before Age 75
Z-scores measure how much a particular value deviates from the state average.
Source: County Health Rankings
This shows the z-scores for some of the factors that contribute to overall health. These include a number of factors like access to care, social and economic factors, health behaviors and the physical environment. (Go here for the full list). Every county in the 20-county area but three – Clayton, Newton and Spalding – scores better than the state average on these factors.
Source: Quarterly Workforce Indicators, U.S. Census Bureau
This map ranks all 613 counties in these Southeastern states across eight factors (see below) and simply adds up the ranks. Thus, lower scores are better. Unlike the County Health Rankings, this index weights all factors equally. The 20-county Atlanta area is among the healthiest places in the Southeast, as measured by this index. In fact, metro areas in general are healthier. Factors used include (weighted equally):
- Years of Life Lost Before Age 75 - % of Low-Birthweight Babies
- Obesity %
- Rate of Deaths in Motor Vehicles
- Teenage Birth Rate
- % of Adults (<65) No Health Ins.
- Number of Primary Care Physicians per 100,000 population
- % of Children in Poverty
Source of map: County Health Rankings (ARC mapping)
This map explores the strong relationship between health and socioeconomic status. It shows the percent of the population who self-reported as being obese (the color ramp) and those counties with household incomes in the bottom 20 percent of all Southeastern counties (the black dots). Many of the areas with the highest rates of obesity also are among the poorest in the southeast.
Source of map: County Health Rankings & SAIPE (for income estimates); U.S. Census Bureau
(ARC mapping)
Place matters. This map from the OASIS system of the GA Division of Public Health shows the geographical distribution of those hospitalized for diabetes between 2000 - 2008. That diabetes also tracks with the distribution of race shows that race matters for how healthy we are too.
Source of map:
Online Analytical Statistical Information System (OASIS) Georgia Department of Community Health, Division of Public Health, Office of Health Information and Policy.
Overview
Health is a popular topic these days. Researchers, policymakers and citizens alike are trying to understand how a multitude of factors – socioeconomics, physical environments, individual behaviors and access to care – contribute to the overall health of the population. What they are finding is that place does matter.
For example, metro Atlanta, as a whole, is a relatively healthy place. In fact, metropolitan areas tend to be a little more healthy, overall, that do rural places. But not all places within a metro area are equal. This requires a neighborhood-by-neighborhood approach to understanding public health and developing the appropriate interventions. Neighborhood Nexus will soon have small-area public health data available to help inform the connections between place and overall health.
One of the more recent efforts to understand public health – the County Health Rankings recently released as a joint effort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute - looks at a host of health outcomes and factors for every county in the U.S. ARC's Regional Snapshot focused on just the ARC’s 20-county planning area and compared it to the Southeast, where the data allowed. The charts below show that, for the most part, counties within the Atlanta region have better health outcomes and factors that n the state as a whole.
Featured Reports
Health Disparities Report 2008: A County-Level Look at Health Outcomes for Minorities in Georgia
(GA Department of Community Health)
Full Report (PDF)
Fact Sheet (PDF)
How Healthy Is Metro Atlanta?
(Atlanta Regional Commission)