WE'RE SICK, SICK, SICK! STUDY SHOWS COUNTY RESIDENTS FEEL ILL NEARLY ONE OF EVERY FIVE DAYS.

Byline: Erik N. Nelson Staff Writer

Angelenos are sick more often than the rest of the state or country, according to a first-ots-kind survey released Thursday that found county residents feel ill nearly one out of every three days.

The survey by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services also found strong links between health, income and education levels, with the most affluent and educated respondents reporting the best health.

``These results document and quantify for the first time the significant impact that poor health has on the daily lives of Angelenos,'' said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of public health and county health officer.

According to the telephone survey of nearly 8,400 county residents, Angelenos report an average of 6.4 days a month of poor health, including 2.4 days of limited activity, which affects their work and recreation because of poor health.

The statewide average is 5.9 days per month, or 8 percent less, and the national average is 5.5, or 14 percent less.

The findings were not surprising to Dr. Michael Hirt, internist and medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center.

``This is the third study out this month to ding L.A. for its quality of life,'' Hirt said, noting a health magazine study and a government report that found high rates of heart disease and lung cancer in the area.

``Despite the fact that we're the nation's fruit and veggie basket, we don't eat enough vegetables here. We don't exercise as much here as other parts of the country, we're stressed out - and you combine those things together and it starts to wear away at people's good health.''

The survey is part of a national effort to gauge the health of Americans by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, explained Dr. Paul Simon, author of the report.

``We're the first county that's done it in the country with these measures. This is sort of new territory,'' said Simon, a Los Angeles County health department epidemiologist.

He added that there are no other cities or counties that have comparable data. State health officials are conducting similar surveys up and down the state with researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, he said.

Fielding noted that the survey showed a strong correlation between income and health, with 91 percent of those with incomes greater than three times the federal poverty level saying they believed their health was good to excellent, and decreasing as income levels dropped.

``By the time you get to those whose income is below the federal poverty line, (only) 62 percent say their health is good to excellent,'' Fielding said.

The L.A. poverty level in 1998 was an income of $8,050 or less for one person, $10,850 or less for two people, $13,650 for three people, and $16,450 for a family of four.

A similar correlation was found between health and education levels, he added, with more-educated residents reporting better health than respondents with little education.

``It's not just that the poor do poorly and the rest do well,'' Fielding said. While people intuitively attribute health problems to flaws in the health care system, the survey shows that other factors, such as public health education about nutrition and exercise, and improving socioeconomic conditions, should also be part of health improvement efforts.

The study also found that people diagnosed with depression had three times as many unhealthy days as the overall county average, while people with other chronic health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and asthma, reported twice as many poor health days as average.

Living in Los Angeles means spending long hours in the car, breathing bad air and grabbing food at the drive-through, Hirt added.

The findings were also easily explained by Todd Smith, a 31-year-old loan officer from Pacoima who waited at Kaiser Permanente's Woodland Hills pharmacy for pain medicine Thursday.

``It's the stress factor,'' he said. ``It's the economy, it's worrying about jobs, the fact that we're having so much violence in our streets and co-workers who go postal.''

And Smith, who is recovering from a pit bull attack, said he probably suffers about six days of illness a month, two of which might keep him from work or weekend activities.

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