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Conventional wisdom might suggest that American kids who live in different parts of the country but receive essentially the same medical care would be more or less equally healthy. Now a new study finds that where children are raised actually influences their overall health more than you might think.
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A new University of Florida study reveals that children who grow up in the deep south have worse health outcomes than kids raised in other parts of the country. The U-F team compiled health statistics from children around the U-S and used the data to create a health index that incorporated five indicators of physical health. Researchers looked at low infant birth weight, infant, child and teen death rates and teen birth rates. Kids living in some southern states were two to three times more likely to be at risk than youngsters in some states in other regions. Eight out of the ten worst states in the country for children’s health were in an area dubbed the deep south, stretching from Louisiana up to North Carolina. Conversely, kids in the New England states were healthiest. Interestingly, poverty had only a slight effect on health outcomes, while geography remained an overwhelming predictor of risk.
Dr. Jeff Goldhagen / UF pediatrician:
“What we found here in the study was that although race and socio-economic status had an impact, living in the south in and of itself was also a risk factor.”
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U-F researchers say only ten to fifteen percent of our overall health status is influenced by access to quality health care, while social, economic, environmental and cultural factors have the largest effect. In other words, where kids live influences their health at least as much as gender, education, income and poverty. The findings, together with the results of future studies, could help experts pinpoint environmental or societal changes necessary to improve kids' health nationwide.
Dr. Jeff Goldhagen / UF pediatrician:
“So there appear to be subtle factors that are impacting children in the south. We really don’t know at this point in time what those are, but because they’re here we can begin to identify them, and we suspect that once we identify them here in the southern part of the country that those will have an impact also and relate to children in all parts of the country.”
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At the University of Florida Health Science Center, I’m Mike Garrison
