Study: Mahoning, Trumbull counties among least healthy Ohio counties

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

alcorn@vindy.com

Mahoning County is one of the overall least healthy among Ohio’s 88 counties, and Trumbull County is not much higher on the list, according to a recent national study.

Columbiana County fared considerably better in the study, called County Health Rankings, produced by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The healthiest county in Ohio is Delaware, located in the rural middle of the state. Geauga County in Northeast Ohio is second.

Ohio’s least-healthy counties — Lawrence, Scioto, Gallia, Jackson and Meigs — are grouped in the southern tip of the state.

“I think of this study as a report card with mixed grades,” said Matthew Stefanak, commissioner of the Mahoning County District Board of Health.

For instance, Mahoning County was ranked 17th in access to clinical care, which Stefanak thinks of as a B-plus or an A. Trumbull, on the other hand, was 60th and Columbiana County, 68th, in that category.

What that means, he said, is that Mahoning County has an ample number of health-care providers and that patients take appropriate advantage of them. Also, the study shows a relatively high percentage of diabetes screening in the tri-county area.

Another category where Mahoning County did well, ranking 21st out of 88, was personal-health behaviors. Factors rated include adult smoking and obesity, binge drinking, chlamydia rate and teen-birth rate.

Areas where the tri-county area did not score well are health outcomes and social and economic factors.

Health outcomes considered premature deaths, poor or fair health and low birth weight.

Social and economic factors include high- school graduation rates, percentage of residents with college degrees, unemployment, children in poverty, income insecurity, inadequate social support, single-parent households and homicide rates.

Stefanak said he thinks the study can be a useful tool to help public-health officials track trends if it is updated periodically.

He said some underlying conditions leading to the ratings are out of the purview of public health, but health agencies and the medical community can impact some of them.

For instance, they can educate people about access and use of health-care facilities, improve the physical environment and improve access to more healthful food and teach healthful eating habits, Stefanak said.