CDC Launches Sortable Database of Health Stats by State and Region

By Editor, on December 3rd, 2012

CDC Health Stats - Sortable & Interactive Online Database of Health Indicators and Risk Factors (Image of State Rankings by Adult Obesity courtesy of CDC) The CDC has launched Sortable Stats 2.0 – a new online database of health indicators and behavioral risk factors that is sortable by state or region, by demographics, by health condition, and in various other ways.

The interactive database, which is found at wwwn.CDC.gov/sortablestats, includes the latest available public health data on death rates, major health conditions, 31 behavioral risk factors and health indicators, and other public health information by state and region, and nationally. It also enables comparison of the data by demographics.

The CDC indicates that the data will be updated annually as new data becomes available.

State Comparisons Based on the CDC Data

As an example of some of the information that can be obtained from the database, a review of the CDC’s Health Stats data reveals the following State rankings in terms of just a few of the health indicators included:

State and National Death Rates from Stroke (2007 Data) – age adjusted rate of stroke deaths per 100,000 population:

State Rankings – See the map at right for an overall national comparison of age adjusted rate of stroke deaths per 100,000 population. The darker blue the state, the higher the rate of death from stroke, according to the following key:

Darkest Blue – > 47.0
Next Lighter Shade – 42.3 – 47.0
Next Lighter Shade – 38.4 -42.3
Lightest Shade – < 38.4

National Average - 42.2. All of the states shown on the map in dark blue and the next lighter shade of blue have stroke death rates higher than the national average.

State Rankings by Adult Obesity (2010 Data) – in terms of percentage of population who are obese (See the map (above and at right) for an overall national comparison of obesity rates. The darker blue the state, the higher the obesity rate.)

Five Most Obese States:

Mississippi – 34.5%
Alabama – 33.0%
West Virginia – 32.9%
South Carolina – 32.0%
Kentucky – 31.8%

Five Least Obese States:

Colorado – 21.4%
District of Columbia – 22.4%
Utah – 23.0%
Connecticut – 23.0%
Nevada – 23.1%

National Average - 27.6%.

State Rankings by Adult Physical Activity (2009 Data) – in terms of percent of adults that engage in 30+ minutes of moderate physical activity five or more days per week, or vigorous physical activity for 20+ minutes three or more days per week:

Five Most Physically Active States:

Alaska – 60.7%
Montana – 58.6%
Vermont – 58.0%
Utah – 57.6%
Idaho – 57.5%

Five Least Physically Active States:

South Dakota – 45.0%
Louisiana – 43.6%
Alabama – 41.1%
Mississippi – 37.5%
Tennessee – 36.0%

National Average - 50.6%. The map above presents an overall national comparison of physical activity rates by state. The darker blue the state, the higher the rate of physical activity.

State and National Rankings by Adult Nutrition (2009 Data) – in terms of percent of adults who have consumed fruits and vegetables five or more times per day:

State Rankings – See the map at right for an overall national comparison of percentage of adults who consume fruits and vegetables five or more times per day. The darker blue the state, the higher the rate of consumption of fruits and vegetables per day, according to the following key:

Darkest Blue – > 25.9% of adult population consume fruits and vegetables five or more times per day
Next Lighter Shade – 23.4% – 25.9%
Next Lighter Shade – 20.8% -23.4%
Lightest Shade – < 20.8%

National Average - Only 23.5% of adults consume fruits and vegetables five or more times per day.

Sorting the Data; Views

The CDC’s Sortable Stats website presents the included health data in five different interactive “Views.” Following is the CDC’s description of each of the data Views:

“In the “Summary” view, Sortable Stats offers users the ability to view state data for all 50 states and DC, U.S. territories, and federal regions for all indicators. Within this view, users can sort the data by clicking the arrow in the header column. This tool allows the user to sort the data from high to low value or from low to high value. It should be noted that a particular ranking, whether high or low, may be a positive value depending on the indicator (e.g., higher seat belt use is positive, where as a lower heart disease deaths is positive).

In the “Indicator” view, users have the ability to view and sort indicator data by demographic categories (e.g. race, gender, age) and historical trends for all states, territories and regions based on the indicator selected. (*The availability of this data will vary by indicator.)

In the “Detail” view, users are able to view and export state specific tables and graphs, for all indicators in which data is available for a state. This view includes a table of the state’s value for each indicator, the regional range and the national value. Additionally, this view also provides graphs of the state’s demographic categories and trends that can be saved as images.

The “Map” view provides a snapshot of ranges of state data. Users can view state or regional geographic specific data by rolling over or clicking on the individual state.

The “Demographic” view provides state level population data based on U.S. Census estimates. This view includes sortable estimates of total population, race/ethnicity, gender, and age data for each state or region for multiple years.”

More Information

To access the CDC Health Stats sortable database, click on the image at right:

More detailed information about the data included in the CDC Health Stats data base, and about the sources of the data can be found in a 13 page PDF document entitled “Sortable Risk Factors and Health Indicators: About the Data,” which is provided by the CDC and linked on the site. As noted by the CDC, this document also includes links to other CDC resources including reports (such as, CDC’s Vital Sign Report, MMWR), data systems (such as, NCHS Vital Statistics, the Health Indicator Warehouse, and BRFSS). “Where available, links are also included for sources that may contain related city or county level data,” the CDC indicates.

Further questions about the data found on the CDC’s Sortable Stats site can be e-mailed to: ADProgram@cdc.gov, according to a link provided on the CDC’s Sortable Stats site.

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