Americans turning to internet for health info

From January through June 2009, 51% of adults aged 18-64 had used the Internet to look up health information during the past 12 months. This information was collected from NCHS’ National Health Interview Survey, featured in a new web release. The data underscores the important role that IT is playing in the health field, as people search for answers quickly and exhaustively from the privacy of their own computer. Here’s the breakdown by sex:

Other data include the following:

Among adults aged 18-64, women were more likely than men to look up health information on the Internet (58.0% versus 43.4%) and were also more likely to use online chat groups to learn about health topics (4.1% versus 2.5%).

From January through June 2009, almost 5% of adults aged 18-64 had communicated with a health care provider by e-mail in the past 12 months.

During the first 6 months of 2009, 6% of adults aged 18-64 requested a refill of a prescription on the Internet, and almost 3% had made an appointment with a health care provider in the past 12 months using the Internet.

For the full report, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/healthinfo2009/healthinfo2009.htm.

 

High cholesterol? It could be happening to you…

In 2005–2006, 16% of adults had serum total cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or greater (high cholesterol). The good news is that generally, for Americans 20 years of age and over, cholesterol levels are declining. However, this decline was seen for men 40 years and over and for women 60 years and over, with little change between 1999 and 2006 for all other age-sex groups.

What may be most disconcerting is the fact that many U.S. adults may not even know they have high cholesterol, with data from the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey finding that 8% of U.S. adults had high cholesterol but had never been told by a health care provider that their cholesterol levels were high. For more data concerning high cholesterol, see the NCHS Data Brief on High Cholesterol. For more information on combating high cholesterol, visit the CDC Webpage on Cholesterol.

Depression in the United States

Depression is a common and debilitating illness. According to the American Psychiatric Association, depression is characterized by changes in mood, self-attitude, cognitive functioning, sleep, appetite, and energy level. Here’s some facts about depression in the U.S. you may not know:

• More than 1 in 20 Americans age 12 and over have depression.
• More than 1 in 7 poor Americans have depression.
• Rates of depression were higher in 40-59 year olds, women, and non-Hispanic black persons than in other demographic groups (see the chart below).

For more information, please visit the NCHS FastStats page on depression at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/depression.htm, or visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db07.pdf.

Obesity – Americans still growing, but not as fast

New data in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) from NCHS statisticians show that the increasing rate of obesity may be slowing, although the prevalence of adults who are obese is still high. The numbers from 2007-2008 show that 33.8% of U.S. adults are obese (32.2% for men, 35.5% for women). The growth of the obesity rate in the U.S. over the past 40 years is depicted below.

Obesity by age, United States, 1971-1974 through 2005-2006:

For the data table, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf and see Trend Table 75.

Circumcision Trends, by U.S. region, 1980-2006

Male newborn infants circumcised during hospitalizations, by U.S. region, 1980-2006:

January is cervical cancer awareness month…

Cervical cancer once was the leading cause of cancer death for women in the U.S., and although the cases and deaths of cervical cancer have decreased over the past 40 years due largely to regular Pap tests, the disease still was responsible for almost 4,000 deaths in 2006 (most recent data available). The rates vary somewhat, but not widely, by state. See how your area compares below.

Cervical death rates per 100,000 women, United States, 2006

For more information on cervical cancer, visit http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/cervical/index.htm.

For more information on cancer mortality, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm.

A New Year’s resolution – Don’t follow the masses when it comes to exercise

What’s your new year’s resolution? For many people this time of year, losing weight and/or getting active tops the list. But when it comes to getting exercise (or, as we at NCHS term it, regular leisure-time physical activity), only about 35% of Americans are making it a priority (although, the percentage of those getting regular exercise in January through June of 2009 did increase from the same period in 2008). Take a look at the most recent statistics –

Percentage of adults aged 18 years and over who engaged in regular leisure-time physical activity: United States, 1997-June 2009 (Data from the National Health Interviewy Survey):

The answer? Don’t give up. And this year, if losing weight and getting active is your goal, maybe it’s time to give your resolution more than lip service.

For more details, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/released200912.htm.

What’s your chance of having a Christmas baby?

The short answer is, not as high as in other months. Still, the possibility is there. In fact, if you look at the seasonally adjusted birth rates by month, your chances in December are just as good as having a baby in March or May. The lowest rate is April (13.7 live births per 1,000 population), compared with the highest rate in August (14.6). December comes in at 14.2 births per 1,000 population.

But this year, Christmas is on a Friday. How does that figure in? Well, the average number of births in 2006 (most recent data available) ranges from 7,587 live births on Sundays compared with 13,482 on Wednesdays. Fridays come in at a respectable 13,151, although Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with Wednesdays, have a higher average.

But then, that baby will come when it comes, right?

See the tables below for more detail:

Births by Month and Weekday, 2006

How’s your state doing?

NCHS now has an easy way for you to check out where your state stands on a variety of health measures compared with the nation as a whole and other states, including the following:

• Mortality from leading causes of death
• Birth data, including births to unmarried mothers, teen births, cesarean deliveries, low birthweight births, prenatal care, and preterm births
• Households using only wireless phones
• Infant mortality rates
• Marriage and divorce rates
• Percentage of people under 65 without health insurance

To use this tool, click on the image below.

A holiday present for everyone – life expectancy

What gift did every American get this year? Well, for one thing, everyone now has a longer life expectancy. Of course, it’s not a one size fits all – there are still differences among the races and genders, as shown in the bullets below. Everyone’s life expectancy has increased, however, regardless of where he or she started a year before.

Life expectancy from birth…

• Everyone – 77.7 years in 2006; 77.9 years in 2007
• White Female – 80.6 years in 2006; 80.7 years in 2007
• Black Female – 76.5 years in 2006; 77.0 years in 2007
• White Male – 75.7 years in 2006; 75.8 years in 2007
• Black Male – 69.7 years in 2006; 70.2 years in 2007

For more information, visit the life expectancy page at NCHS.