Texans are improving their health. The state has seen major improvements this year in smoking, child immunizations and mental health, according to data gathered by United Health Foundation.
Texas now has the sixth-lowest incidence of smoking (15.9 percent) among the states. Last year, 18.2 percent of Texan adults smoked.
Immunization rates among toddlers increased from 64.8 percent to 72.5 percent.
In 2014, the average Texan reported 3.2 days of poor mental health over the last month. In 2013, the average was 3.6 days.
The changes moved Texas up five spots among the 50 states in a measure of how healthy they are. Texas now ranks 31st, the United Health Foundation reported in “America’s Health Rankings 2014.”
The report, released early Wednesday by the foundation, relies on data gathered from sources such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical Association and the U.S. Census Bureau.
While Texans did better overall, they joined the rest of the nation in a worsening of health conditions that contribute to chronic disease. The Texas obesity rate crept up to 30.9 percent. More than a fourth (27.3 percent) of Texas adults reported getting no exercise in the last 30 days.
[For more of this story, written by Jim Landers, go to http://www.dallasnews.com/busi...-rate-up-to-30.9.ece]
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