Racial disparity remains a health concern

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C.,None — Local health officials say a disparity between minority and Caucasian health continues to exist and should be a priority for Cabarrus County health initiatives going forward.

Between 2000 and 2010, Cabarrus County’s population increased by 33 percent compared to 18.4 percent statewide. The fastest growing segment of the local population was Hispanic/Latino residents, according to the Cabarrus County 2011 State of the County Health Report released in January.

“It’s generally been true for years that there’s a great disparity between the minority populations and Caucasian population,” said William Pilkington, public health director and CEO of the Cabarrus Health Alliance. “It’s the lack of access. It’s also historically that they’ve been so far behind that it will take long beyond my lifetime to catch up.

“The things we’ve been addressing are the chronic issues - diabetes, chronic diseases and lack of prenatal care,” he said.

The State of the County Health Report is done annually and usually released early in the year to help guide local health officials, elected officials and community leaders’ decisions about health needs in the community.

The report is complemented by a formal community assessment of health and human services that is done every four years and will be done again this year. That assessment involves multiple agencies, providers, and individuals in identifying community assets and strengths as well as unmet needs. The Cabarrus Health Alliance and Healthy Cabarrus provide leadership for the assessment.

Infant mortality is a key health indicator for a community, Pilkington said, and that has improved for Cabarrus County in the last year and, in particular, among minorities.

Cabarrus County had the second lowest infant mortality rate in the state in 2010. The entire state’s infant mortality rate declined sharply in 2010, reaching its lowest level in state history.

In 2010, seven infant deaths were reported for every 1,000 births statewide, representing an 11.4 percent drop from the state’s 2009 rate of 7.9 deaths per 1,000 births. The largest decline in infant mortality in 2010 was among African American infants, a reduction of 19.6 percent from the previous year.

Cabarrus County reported four white non-Hispanic infant deaths out of 1,484 births, one African American infant death out of 391 births and one Hispanic infant death out of 392 births.

The report also stated that cancer, heart disease and chronic lower respiratory disease are the top three causes of death among Cabarrus County residents.

Cancer is the number one killer in Cabarrus County, which reported 173.5 deaths per 100,000 people compared to the state rate of 190.7 deaths per 100,000 people.

Heart disease can be blamed for 167.5 deaths per 100,000 people in Cabarrus County compared to 192.2 deaths per 100,000 people statewide. Meanwhile chronic lower respiratory diseases account for 47.8 of the deaths per 100,000 compared to 46.9 deaths per 100,000 statewide.

The State of the County Health Report included data compiled through 2010 and indicated nutrition, weight, and tobacco use continue to be major contributors to Cabarrus County residents’ risks for developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.

Adult smoking rates continue to improve. Cabarrus County’s tobacco use dropped from 16.3 percent in 2005 to 12.5 percent in 2010. County officials attribute the improvement to several local efforts. The most recent was the adoption of tobacco-free policies for local parks. Cabarrus County, Concord, Kannapolis and Harrisburg have all recently banned tobacco use from city and county parks.

Local schools also got involved in helping to reduce the number of people using tobacco. Educational kits were provided to school nurses. Tobacco-free school ads were placed in all high school fall media guides (football guides) featuring local youth promoting policy.

Pilkington said one of the most critical health issues in Cabarrus County is epidemic childhood and adult obesity. Obesity rates have increased to nearly 50 percent for children ages 5-11 in Cabarrus County. The percentage of children ages 5 to 11 who are considered overweight or obese increased from 39.1 percent in 2005 to 47.4 percent in 2010. The state rate increased nearly 40 percent over the same time period to 42.9 percent.

Weight continues to be a major health issue for Cabarrus County residents as the advance into their teenage and adult years. Approximately 47.8 percent of Cabarrus County children age 12 to 18 are considered overweight or obese. About 66.5 percent of Cabarrus County adults age 18 and older are overweight or obese, a 6.1 percent increase over the 2005 statistics.

Cabarrus County officials have tried to help address this public health crisis with new policies. Cabarrus County commissioners recently adopted a policy requiring 50 percent of all vending/concessions food and beverages be considered healthy in Cabarrus County Parks.

The county also held a free community screening of the documentary, “FRESH,” which educated citizens on importance of local foods.

The county provided a “smarter lunchroom/behavioral economics” training for 150 cafeteria workers in both the Cabarrus County and Kannapolis school systems.

Kannapolis City Schools adopted a policy that incoming ninth graders will create an individual health plan and establishment of Kannapolis City Schools School-Based Health Center.

Cabarrus Health Alliance has been working with closely with teenagers who struggle with obesity.

“These programs we have are more hands on where we were working with teenagers who were identified at risk. We’ve had great success with those,” Pilkington said.

The Cabarrus Health Alliance also plans to offer a new healthy cooking program when the agency moves into its new $6.7 million building at 300 Mooresville Road in Kannapolis on April 9.

“The new building will have a wellness kitchen,” Pilkington said. “We’ll do wellness classes and teach (residents) how to prepare healthy foods.”

The 2011 State of the County Health Report also looked at access to health services. Between 2004 and 2009, the number of uninsured children and residents who receive Medicaid benefits outpaced the growth in the general population, according to the report. While Cabarrus County’s ratio of physicians to population is better than the state ratio, the county could do better in the number of dentists available to residents.

“We have one of the worst per capita ratios of dentists in the state. We don’t have as many dentists as we need,” Pilkington said.

As of the most recent data, Cabarrus County had 24.4 physicians per 10,000 residents compared to 21.2 per 10,000 statewide. Meanwhile, there are only 3.3 dentists per 10,000 people in Cabarrus County compared with 4.4 dentists per 10,000 people statewide.

“It translates into dental cavities and abscesses that may not be treated and can turn into more serious issues later on,” he said.

The Cabarrus Health Alliance has offered dental clinics to address the problem. The new Health Alliance building will include dental clinic, he said.

For more information about health and available services in Cabarrus County, visit http://www.cabarrushealth.org/ or call 704-920-1000.

WSOC