COUNTYWIDE HEALTH CARE 'REPORT CARD' ISSUED.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. residents report better health and enjoy better air quality than those living in other parts of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County, according a health ``report card'' issued Wednesday. In the Valley, 18 percent of residents reported being in poor or fair health, compared with 21 percent countywide. And about 45 percent of parents in the Valley report difficulty finding adequate child care, a rate significantly worse than the rest of the county. ``There are some areas where the San Fernando Valley looks better, but there are other areas where there is even more work to do,'' county Public Health Officer Dr. Jonathan Fielding Jonathan E. Fielding M.D., M.P.H., M.A., M.B.A. is the Director of the Department of Public Health and is the Health Officer for Los Angeles County. In his position as Director Dr. said. Compared with the rest of the county, the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley had significantly higher rates of poor respiratory health among adults and children, including high rates of smoking, second-hand smoke second-hand smoke Passive smoking, see there exposure, asthma and lung cancer lung cancer, cancer that originates in the tissues of the lungs. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States in both men and women. Like other cancers, lung cancer occurs after repeated insults to the genetic material of the cell. mortality. The downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or area had significantly higher rates of AIDS and tuberculosis compared with the county overall. ``Regardless of where you live, rates of smoking and physical inactivity physical inactivity A sedentary state. Cf Physical activity. are too high, and consumption of fruits and vegetables are too low,'' Fielding said. Among the most significant health trends in the county are the rise in the prevalence of obesity, which went from 14 percent to 19 percent among adults in the county from 1997-98 to 2002-03. In addition, there has been a near 50 percent increase in diabetes deaths in the last decade. Higher rates of diabetes among African-Americans and Latinos and in certain parts of the county suggest that there are areas of the county that will bear a disproportionately large burden of illness and death related to diabetes. These are also the areas of the county that have the poorest access to health care services. Fielding said rapid increases in health care costs - which now total $1.6 trillion annually, provide a powerful incentive to reduce the burden of illness and lost productivity in society. For example, obesity trends already account for 400,000 deaths in the United States each year - with an annual price tag of $3.4 billion in the county alone. ``If current trends are not reversed we will pay an ever-growing economic and medical toll in future years,'' said Cheryl Wold, chief of the health assessment unit, which wrote the report. Troy Anderson, (213) 974-8985 troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com |
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