The Wisconsin State Health Plan for 2020 established a goal for everyone to live longer and better. Progress toward this goal can be measured by monitoring health outcomes, and the factors that contribute to those outcomes, for the state's population overall, as well as by considering the health status of specific populations within the state. Funded by a grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program, this report assesses progress for 19 health indicators in Wisconsin by assessing trends over the past 10 years, and by determining whether current rates are better or worse than expected. Two other related reports are useful in understanding the health of Wisconsin. "The Opportunities to Make Wisconsin the Healthiest State" report compares Wisconsin's health to the nation's and other states' health and the "Health of Wisconsin Report Card" examines disparities in health outcomes across specific subpopulations within Wisconsin. For information regarding policies and programs that have been used to address key health indicators, including whether these policies and programs have been shown to increase or decrease disparities in health outcomes, see the online or print version of "What Works? Policies and Programs to Improve Wisconsin's Health". Approach Ten-year trends for 19 leading health indicators were measured to see if the indicator improved or worsened over a 10-year period. The most current rates for each indicator were compared to the expected rate had the 10-year baseline trend continued. In addition, where data were available, we report online both 10 year trends and current performance on these leading health indicators by gender, race and ethnicity, geography, and level of educational attainment. Results In the 2013 report, considering the population of the state in total, mortality trends for all age groups in Wisconsin improved. The greatest improvement was among children and young adults (ages 1-24). Other health outcomes are a cause for concern. The rate of low birthweight infants continues to increase. Additionally, an increasing percentage of adults report their health as fair or poor. Improvements have been made in the health behavior areas of smoking, teen births and excessive drinking evidenced by their decreasing trends. However, the obesity trend continues to increase. Although the most recent values for some socioeconomic and environmental indicators have improved, the trends are still worsening for all socioeconomic factors (high school drop-outs, unemployment, children in poverty and violent crime rate).
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Published By
- University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute
- University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute
Funded By
- Wisconsin Partnership Program at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
- Wisconsin Partnership Program at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Copyright
- Copyright 2013 University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
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