-     April, 2016

National Public Health Week 2016

Since 1995, when the first full week of April was declared National Public Health Week, communities across the United States have observed the time as an opportunity to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight issues that are important to improving the public’s health.  In recognition of National Public Health Week, Public Health Management Corporation’s Community Health Data Base (CHDB)  is pleased to provide the following key findings from the 2015 SEPA Household Health Survey for adults, older adults and children regarding health status, access to care and personal health behaviors. The SEPA Household Health Survey is the largest, local public health survey in the country. It has been conducted 14 times since its inception in 1983. The survey is conducted in over 10,000 households in SEPA and is used extensively for assessing unmet need and addressing at-risk populations across the region. The following are selected key findings from the survey:

      The percentage of uninsured adults (18 -64 years of age) has decreased since 2012 from 12.4% to 8.5%. Currently, the uninsured represents 117,300 adults who have no private or public health insurance.  Among children in the region, 2.3% or 21,000 are uninsured.

• Younger adults are more likely   to lack health insurance than any  other age group.
• Latino adults are more likely to be uninsured than their Black, Asian and White counterparts.
• Males are more likely than females to be uninsured.
• West Philadelphia PAS has the highest percentage of uninsured, followed by South Philadelphia & Lower NE Philadelphia.

-     Slightly more than 1 in 5 has looked into purchasing health insurance coverage through Healthcare.gov since it opened in the fall of 2013.  Of those who looked into purchasing insurance through healthcare.gov:

• Four in ten have enrolled in a health insurance plan offered through Healthcare.gov since it opened in the fall of 2013.
• 40% do not find it difficult to find a plan with MONTHLY PREMIUMS that they could afford.
• 40% do not find it difficult for them to find a plan that they could afford to use,  or to find a plan with copays/deductibles that they could afford.

-     With or without health insurance, nearly 134,300 (11.3%) adults in SEPA were sick at some point in the past year but did not seek care due to the cost.

•  Nearly one in seven adults did not fill a prescription due to the cost.

 Nearly one-quarter of adults did not seek dental care due to the cost of the visit. 

• Among children in SEPA, 8.7% have not had a dental visit in the past year; this percentage represents 65,000 who have not seen a dentist. This percentage is lower than in 2012 when 9.7% of children had not seen a dentist. 

 Nearly 3 in 10 adults age 20 or older in SEPA are considered obese; this percentage has increased since 2000 from 21% to 29% in 2015.

• More than three in ten (37.6%) children are considered at-risk for obesity; this percentage represents 216,900 children in SEPA. This percentage has increased since 2012 from 33.7% to 37.6% in 2015.

-    Approximately 17% of Southeastern Pennsylvania adults 18 years of age or older currently smokes cigarettes every day or some days.

• Philadelphia adults are more likely to smoke (22%) compared with residents of Delaware (16%), Bucks (14%), Montgomery (11%), and Chester (15%) Counties.
• Across the region, men are more likely to smoke than women (19% compared with 15%).
• Cigarette smoking among adults decreases with age; 19% of adults ages 18-34 currently smoke, as do 6% of adults 75 years of age or older.
• Black adults are the most likely to smoke cigarettes (23%) compared with 16% of Latino adults, 16% of White adults and 5% of Asian adults.

-    In SEPA, one-third of women 18 years of age or older (35%) did NOT have a clinical breast exam, representing approximately 593,200 women. 

• Approximately 593,200 women 18+ did not receive a clinical breast exam in the past year (35%).
• Specifically, one-third of women 18-59 (35.5%) did not receive a breast exam in the past year, 29% of women 60-74, and 44% of women 75+.
• There is little variation in the percentages of women 18 years of age or older who have not received a breast exam in the past year among the Southeastern Pennsylvania Counties.

-    In SEPA, one-third (33.3%) of adults has high blood pressure; this percentage represents 1,051,114 adults in SEPA. 

• Males are slightly more likely to have high blood pressure compared to females. Among male adults, the percentage with high blood pressure has increased since 2000 from 26.3% to 33.9% in 2015.
• Black men are more likely to have high blood pressure (43.8%) compared to white (33.6%) and Asian (16.7%) men.