SC named 9th unhealthiest state by Forbes. Here are the reasons why
SC is the ninth unhealthiest state in the nation, according to a recent ranking by Forbes Advisor, a division of the magazine devoted to financial advice.
The list ranked states using three categories — disease prevalence and mortality rate, substance abuse, and lifestyle habits and health outlook — using data from the CDC and Kaiser Family Foundation for three years from 2018-2020.
Neighboring North Carolina and Georgia scored higher than South Carolina, while Tennessee was ranked lower. This is consistent with other health rankings.
Dr. Brannon Traxler, Public Health Director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, pointed out successes in reducing the infant mortality rate, but noted that there are still disparities. South Carolina babies born to Black mothers were more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday than those born to non-Hispanic white women.
“To decrease the overall mortality rate is great, but if we’re not improving the disparities at the same time, then it’s not as big of an achievement to me,” Traxler said.
Forbes Advisor reported that S.C. tied for the state with the seventh highest percentage of heavy drinking adults. DHEC data shows that 14% of Edgefield County adults drank heavily, the most in the state, from 2017-2020.
And 11.8% of South Carolina residents are diagnosed with diabetes, which is the eighth highest in the nation. Traxler said that North Columbia (specifically the 29203 zip code) had one of the highest rates in the country of amputations due to diabetes. From 2016 to 2021, Trexler said, “about 10 out of every 10,000 people in that zip code had an amputation of part of their leg or foot.”
The DHEC had enacted a plan in 2018 to address chronic health conditions, among other goals. Traxler noted, “we had to put the vast majority of our focus for a couple of years there on COVID-19 and stopping that pandemic, and so that took attention away from the other conditions that were in the State Health Improvement Plan.”
Traxler urged South Carolina residents to fill out DHEC’s anonymous S.C. Community Health Needs Assessment to share the most important health issues for them and their community.
Here are the 10 unhealthiest states, according to Forbes Advisor:
West Virginia
Mississippi
Kentucky
Alabama
Arkansas
Tennessee
Louisiana
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Ohio
Here are the 10 healthiest states:
Hawaii
Utah
Minnesota
California
Massachusetts
Colorado
Washington
Connecticut
New York
New Jersey
