The Van Wert County Courthouse

Thursday, Mar. 28, 2024

County Health Assessment data released

Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series detailing information from the 2015 Van Wert County Community Needs Assessment. This article is a summary of findings from the assessment, commissioned by the Van Wert County Health Collaborative.

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Representatives from local health agencies and schools were among those on hand to hear the results of the 2015 Van Wert County Community Health Needs Assessment.

Van Wert County Hospital staff member Anne Dunn holds up a copy of the 2015 Van Wert County Community Health Assessment during a presentation on Wednesday. (Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent)
Van Wert County Hospital staff member Anne Dunn holds up a copy of the 2015 Van Wert County Community Health Assessment during a presentation on Wednesday. (Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent)

The Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio conducted the study, which was commissioned by the Van Wert County Health Collaborative, a collection of local organizations headed by Van Wert County Hospital and the Van Wert County Health Department.

Brittany Ward, director of community health improvement for the Hospital Council, provided information on adult health assessment results, while graduate assistant Tessa Elliott talked about results from the assessment of county youths.

Surveys were mailed to 1,200 adult county residents, with a 46 percent return rate, while students in county schools and grades were randomly selected to take part in the survey, with a 90 percent response rate.

Health education researchers at the University of Toledo then analyzed the data received. Adult data was weighted by age, gender, race, and income using 2010 census data.

General results from the survey indicated that age and income were often factors in how county residents rates their overall health, with those 65 and over and those with incomes under $25,000 a year less likely to rate their health as excellent/very good.

Following the presentation, those attending were asked for their response to the data and were asked a provide their comments on a series of questions related to the assessment.

Kim Haas, RN, director of nursing for the Van Wert County Health Department, said she thought the event went well.

“I was pleased with the attendance and the variety of people from different agencies in the community,” Haas said. “I thought the feedback was really good, and I’m excited to take the information we received from the people here and put that into place.”

Sixty-five percent of those under 30 said their health was excellent/very good, while less than half (49 percent) of those over 65 rated their health as excellent/very good. When income was the deciding factor, 51 percent of those whose incomes were over $25,000 said their health was excellent or very good, while just 38 percent of those with incomes under $25,000 rated their health as excellent or very good.

Men were also less likely than women to rate their health as excellent or very good, with 45 percent of men rating their health as excellent, versus 57 percent of women.

When assessing county residents’ health insurance, the assessment found that 11 percent of county adults were uninsured, with 24 percent of those whose income was under $25,000 saying they were uninsured, versus just 7 percent of county residents with incomes above $25,000.

When age was taken into consideration, those ages 30-64 were twice as likely to be uninsured as those under 30 or those 65 and older (14 percent, versus 6 percent for those under 30 and 5 percent for those 65 and over).

Heart disease was again the leading cause of death for county adults in 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, while cancer was second (21 percent), chronic lower respiratory diseases third (6 percent), with stroke, diabetes, and accidents (unintentional injuries) tied for fourth at 5 percent.

A breakdown of the 790 county cancer deaths from 2008-2012 showed that breast cancer was the leading cause of death (127 cases, 16 percent), lung and bronchus cancer second (109 cases, 14 percent), prostate cancer third (98 cases, 12 percent), and colon and rectum cancer fourth (87 cases (11 percent).

A whopping 72 percent of county residents were judged to be either obese or overweight, based on the Body Mass Index (height versus weight), with more than one-third (35 percent) considered obese. The county figure is higher than that for all Ohioans (33 percent), as well as the national average (30 percent).

Among county young people in grades 6-12, 49 percent were considered either obese (18 percent) or overweight (31 percent). Boys were more likely to be obese than girls (20-16 percent), while girls were more likely to be overweight (21-11 percent). Youngsters ages 14-16 were also more likely to be both obese or overweight.

Those figures are somewhat misleading, though, since those with higher muscle mass would also have a higher BMI, since muscle weighs more than fat.

In 2015, 14 percent of adults were smokers and 21 percent considered former smokers, while 5 percent of youths in grades 6-12 were smokers. That figure rose to 11 percent for young people age 17 or older.

Substance abuse, a significant problem in Van Wert County, was also a part of the 2015 health assessment.

The assessment showed that 11 percent of county adults were considered frequent (binge) drinkers, with 58 percent of those under 30 falling into that category, versus 32 percent of those 30-64, and 19 percent of those ages 65 and older.

Approximately 42 percent of young people in grades 6-12 said they had drunk at least one alcoholic drink in their life, with that figure rising to 59 percent for those older than 17. Eighteen percent of youths in grades 6-12 said they had at least one drink in the past 30 days, with that figure increasing to 32 percent of those over age 17.

In addition, nearly three-fifths (59 percent) of youths who reported drinking in the past 30 days had at least one episode of binge drinking, while 7 percent of those said they had also driven a car after drinking alcohol. That compares to 3 percent of adults who said they drove a car after drinking alcohol.

In 2015, 6 percent of county adults had used marijuana in the past six months, with that figure 11 percent of those under age 30. Seven percent of youths in grades 7-12 had used marijuana at least once in the last 30 days, with that figure 13 percent for those 17 and older. Eleven percent of adults had abused prescription drugs in the past six months, while 6 percent of youths in grades 7-12 had abused prescription drugs, with that figure rising to 10 percent for those 17 and older.

Friday: A more detailed look at the adult health assessment.

POSTED: 04/28/16 at 8:26 am. FILED UNDER: News