Mixed results for Harris County in health survey; for pollution, worst in Texas

Harris County recently received mixed results from a nationwide
project designed to assess health indicators in various regions of the
United States, even coming in dead last in one area studied.

The county rankings were compiled by the Mobilizing Action Toward
Community Health (MATCH) project, a collaboration between the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health
Institute. In Texas, 223 counties were studied.

Two of the most common measures of overall health are mortality
(number of deaths) and morbidity (how often people are sick). In these
Areas, Harris County did relatively well. Because of a 41 out of 223
ranking in mortality and 86 out of 223 ranking in morbidity, Harris
County came in 47th out of all Texas counties in terms of health
outcomes.

In the "health factors" category, however, it's another story. Harris
came in 154th in Texas when it comes to variables likely to cause
health problems.

In some of this area's subcategories, such as health behaviors, Harris
did relatively well (33rd). This ranking includes behaviors such as
smoking, obesity and sexually transmitted infections. The clinical
care ranking was also good (74th). But, the county ranked 173rd when it
came to social and economic factors such as education, number of
children in poverty, and violent crime rate.

Finally, when it came to physical environment, Harris was the worst
county in all of Texas, likely because of pollution. The county has
more than twice as many days each year when ozone and particulate
matter pollution are a serious concern.

MATCH provides detailed information on all these factors and more, as
well as tools and resources to help improve health care outcomes in
your community. To learn more, visit
www.countyhealthrankings.org.