Posts Tagged ‘physical inactivity’

Youth Behavioral Risk Factor Survey Released

June 24th, 2010

The vast majority of deaths among kids and young adults in the US are preventable- and many involve the choices theymake.  Car crashes are responsible for 30% of deaths, unintentional injuries 16%, murder 16%, and suicide 12%.  Teen pregnancy causes a wide range of social problems, and there are more than 9 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among people aged 15–24 every year in the US.   The leading health and safety problem for this age group are basically related to: 1) behaviors that contribute to injuries and vio­lence; 2) alcohol and other drug use; 3) sexual behavior;  4) unhealthy eating; and 5) physical inactivity. These behaviors frequently are interrelated and are established during childhood and adolescence and extend into adulthood.

The CDC released their Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2009 this month which examines the national trends.  They conduct the surveillance annually so that we have better data with which to craft and implement public health interventions to do something about these preventable health issues.

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2010 American Fitness Report

June 2nd, 2010

Which city do you think is overall more fit and healthy, Phoenix or Pittsburgh.  I won’t give you the answer, you’ll have to go to this year’s The ACSM American Fitness Index Report at  http://www.americanfitnessindex.org/ to get the answer.  They put this report out every year to help city planners, policy makers, health educators, and other professionals understand how the health of the city, residents and community assets that support healthy lifestyles compare to other cities nationwide. The report includes health indicators like the percentage of people who exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight, eat the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables, have access to health care, have health insurance, and don’t smoke. Environmental (community) factors included the availability of parks, walking/bike trails and public transportation.  I will tell you that we do better on personal health indicators than on community indicators.

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“Winnable Public Health Battles” Childhood Overweight and Obesity

May 25th, 2010

This week, I’m sharing the CDC’s 5 Winnable Battles as set forth by the new head of the CDC), Dr. Frieden.  During the next 3 years,  CDC will be increasingly  focusing its strategic planning on public health and policy interventions to help win the 5 “Winnable Battles”.  There’s not much on the CDC’s website yet on the new strategy, but moving forward you’re sure to hear about them.  Today, a look at the second winnable battle:

2.     Childhood Overweight and Obesity

Obesity is a serious health concern for children and adolescents. Results from the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), using measured heights and weights, indicate that (nationally) an 17% of children ages 2-19 years are obese. Among pre-school age children 2-5 years of age, obesity increased from 5 to 10.4% between 1976-1980 and 2007-2008 and from 6.5 to 19.6% among 6-11 year olds.  Among adolescents aged 12-19, obesity increased from 5 to 18.1% during the same period.

Obese children and adolescents are at risk for health problems during their youth and as adults. For example, during their youth, obese children and adolescents are more likely to have risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease (such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes) than are other children and adolescents.  For more info on how we’re working to do something about the problem in Arizona, you can visit our http://www.azwic.gov/ and Physical Activity Program

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Posted in Prevention

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