Scotland ranked 86th out of 100 counties in North Carolina for health outcomes and 95th for health factors, according to a report by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
"These rankings measure how healthy people are and how long they live," Scotland County Health Director Ron Sapp said.
He described it as a "snapshot" of the healthiness of county residents.
"When you look at where we are located... we are in a pocket (of counties with low rankings)," Sapp said.
The reason – massive poverty and unemployment throughout the region.
"There are big differences in health among North Carolina counties,” said North Carolina Health Director Jeff Engel. “Poorer communities have poorer health. Education, jobs, availability of healthy foods, access to high-quality affordable health care, individual behavior…all these things have a big effect on people’s health."
Researchers used five measures of overall health or “health outcomes” for counties: the rate of people dying before age 75, the percent of people who report being in fair or poor health, the numbers of days people report being in poor physical and poor mental health, and the rate of low-birthweight infants.
Scotland County ranks 89th for mortality – premature death or the rate of people dying before age 75 – and 83rd for morbidity – the other four measures used in health outcomes.
The report then looked at factors that affect people’s health in four categories: health behavior, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment. Those factors included rates of adult smoking, adult obesity, binge drinking, and teenage pregnancy; the number of uninsured adults, availability of primary care providers, and preventable hospital stays; rates of high school graduation, number of children in poverty, and rates of violent crime; access to healthy foods, air pollution levels, and liquor store density.
Scotland County ranks third from the bottom for social and economic factors, which includes measures like unemployment and poverty. Scotland is also 94th for Health Behaviors, which looks at rates of unhealthy habits.
“It takes everyone making healthy choices to effect change in North Carolina,” said Dr. Engel. “We hope this report will mobilize community leaders to take action to invest in programs and policy changes that improve health. Everyone has a stake in community health, and we all need to work together to find solutions.”
"We have to work together as a community to address these issues," Sapp said.
The issue above all others that needs addressed is the economic disparity of Scotland County.
Sapp said people aren't going to worry about eating healthy or exercising when they are worried about getting enough food to eat and where their next pay check is coming from.
Not all the news was bad, however.
Scotland County ranked 25th in the state for a healthy environment, with only one day with particulate matter in the air and no days with high ozone levels.
Scotland County was also ranked 27th in the state for clinical care, in part because of the above average use of Hospice in Scotland County. Hospice used ranked fourth in the state. This was offset, however, by Scotland County having the 12th highest rate of preventable hospital visits in the state.
Neighboring counties also had low rankings, with only Moore falling in the top half of health outcomes and factors.
Their rankings are:
• Hoke County ranked 57th for health outcomes and 75th for health factors;
• Moore County ranked 31st for health outcomes and 9th for health factors;
• Richmond County ranked 90th for both health outcomes and health factors; and
• Robeson County ranked 98th for health outcomes and 100th for health factors.
Marlboro County, S.C., also had low scores, ranking 44th out of 46 counties in South Carolina on health outcomes and 45th for health factors.
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