STATE HEALTH RANKING 2002 EDITION

Minnesota

Minnesota ranks second this year. It has ranked among the top three states since 1990.

Strengths include a low premature death rate with 5,985 years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population, low rate of heart disease with 199.3 deaths per 100,000 population and few occupational fatalities with only 3.4 deaths per 100,000 workers. It is also in the top 10 states for few motor vehicle deaths, a low risk for heart disease, strong high school graduation rate, few children in poverty, few uninsured individuals, high support for public health care, few limited activity days, low total mortality and low infant mortality.

Its biggest challenge remains the low adequacy of prenatal care with only 75.8 percent of the pregnant women receiving adequate care. This measure also illustrates the wide health disparity within the state with only 44.2 percent of pregnant American Indian women receiving adequate care compared to 79.0 percent of pregnant white women receiving adequate care. The American Indian and black, non-Hispanic populations also experience higher premature death than the white non-Hispanic population within the state.

The state ranks fourth in the combined measures of risk factors and second in the combined measures of outcomes, indicating it will likely remain among the relatively healthy states in the future.

In the past year, the prevalence of smoking rose from 19.8 percent to 22.2 percent of the population but the other risks for heart disease decreased from 7 percent below to 16 percent below the national average.

Since 1990, the percentage of children in poverty has declined from 21.2 percent to 8.1 percent of persons under age 18, and infant mortality has declined from 8.9 to 5.7 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Rankings			Minnesota					Measurement Data
2002	2001			1990					2002		2001		1990
						Risk Factors
13		5			19		Prevalence of Smoking (Percent of population)			22.2		19.8	28.7
4		7			1		Motor Vehicle Deaths (Deaths per 100,000,000 miles driven)			1.1		1.2	1.6
13		11			16		Violent Crime (Offenses per 100,000 population)			281		274	286
6		14			16		Risk for Heart Disease (Percent above or below national average			-16		-7	-2
5		2			1		High School Graduation (Percent of incoming ninth graders)			83.7		84.7	88.7
6		4			31		Children in Poverty (percent of persons under age 18)			8.1		8.5	21.2
26		26			16		Adequacy of Prenatal Care (Percent of pregnant women)			75.8		75.9	72.2
4		2			8		Lack of Health Insurance (Percent without health insurance)			8.0		8.0	8.7
10		13			5*		Support for Public Health Care (Ratio)			1.93		2.08	0.92*
						Outcomes
3		4			4*		Occupational Fatalities (Deaths per 100,000 workers)			3.4		3.3	5*
4		21			5*		Limited Activity Days (Days in last 30 days)			2.9		3.4	2.6*
1		1			5		Heart Disease (Deaths per 100,000 population)			199.3		197.9	260.6
14		15			11		Cancer Deaths (Deaths per 100,000 population)			200.9		201.9	186.4
12		11			5		Infectious Disease (Cases per 100,000 population)			11.7		12.0	13.0
5		6			3		Total Mortality (Deaths per 100,000 population)			802.0		794.4	792.6
7		9			8		Infant Mortality (Deaths per 1,000 live births)			5.7		5.9	8.9
1		1			1		Premature Death (Years lost per 100,000 population)			5,985		5,590	6,541