Maryland ranks 11th in nation in new health report
Brett Peveto, Producer
Wednesday, December 27, 2023
A new report by the United Health Foundation shows some good news in Maryland along with concerning trends in chronic conditions.
The America's Health Rankings report found the state ranked 11th overall with positive noted including Marylanders having a low incidence of adults with multiple chronic conditions.
But overall, the report found the number of Americans dealing with chronic conditions has increased, and eight conditions including things such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, COPD and chronic kidney disease reached their highest levels since the foundation began tracking them.
Dr. Marie Kanagie-McAleese, a pediatrician at the University of Maryland's Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, sees the maintenance of chronic conditions as an expensive way to approach the problem.
"When we look at how much money the United States spends on health care, we're looking at about $4 trillion a year," Kanagie-McAleese pointed out. "And it's estimated that about 90% of these health care costs are going towards management of chronic conditions. And so this is critically important for our medical system as a whole right now."
She emphasized the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases through changes in lifestyle would go a long way to reducing costs associated with disease management.
The report showed more than 29 million adults in the U.S. are dealing with three or more chronic conditions. The study's authors also noted in the past year, 15% of adults in the country with two or more chronic conditions avoided needed medical care, including prescription medicines due to high cost.
Kanagie-McAleese is board certified in lifestyle medicine and believes the public has yet to fully appreciate how our habits can affect health.
"There's not enough education for the general public about how tremendously important our lifestyle is at helping to prevent these chronic diseases from occurring," Kanagie-McAleese asserted. "But also once you have any of these chronic diseases, making lifestyle changes can really help in treatment and sometimes even reversal."
She said Type 2 diabetes is one example of a chronic condition which is very responsive to lifestyle changes.
Among the strengths in Maryland the report found a low prevalence of excessive drinking, and few cigarette smokers. Although one of the problem areas for the state was a high prevalence of insufficient sleep. In Maryland, 38% of adults are not getting enough sleep, which is higher than the national average, and ranked the state 39th in the nation for sleep.
Kanagie-McAleese added when people are chronically sleep-deprived, it promotes an increase in inflammation in the body.
"Inflammation is linked to the majority of these chronic diseases that we're seeing," Kanagie-McAleese explained. "Sleep is absolutely an underrepresented factor that can assist in your drive to be healthier, or it can work against you and help to promote some of these chronic diseases."
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