The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) today released Women’s Health USA 2003, an updated statistical look at the health of America’s women that highlights the impact on women of chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, asthma and obesity.
 
“When you look at the statistics in this report, it is clear that women suffer from many chronic, preventable diseases and conditions, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said.  “Women can take simple steps, such as getting regular physical activity, eating a nutritious diet and quitting smoking, that can make a tremendous difference in their lives.”
 
Diabetes, heart disease, asthma, cancer and obesity are the focus areas of Secretary Thompson’s Steps to a HealthierUS initiative.  The department-wide effort focuses on reducing the health burden created by chronic illnesses, emphasizing both personal responsibility for the choices Americans make and social responsibility among policymakers to support programs that foster healthy behaviors and prevent disease.
 
Women’s Health USA 2003 includes the most recent federal data on health and health-related indicators from HHS and several other federal departments and agencies.  The report, updated from the first edition issued last year, looks at population characteristics, health status and health services utilization.  In addition, this year’s edition has a new section on special populations that looks at women’s health along the U.S.-Mexico border, in rural and urban areas, and among immigrant, incarcerated and older women.
 
The report also tracks preventive health measures in HRSA-supported community and migrant health centers.  The report finds that women who receive care at these centers have slightly higher rates for Pap smears and mammograms than do women in the general population. 
 
The data book highlights gender disparities, with comparisons of men and women on 26 health indicators and behaviors, including physical activity, smoking and asthma. In 2001, for example, women had higher rates of asthma than men, with the disparity most pronounced among women ages 64 and younger, who experienced asthma at about twice the rate of men the same age. 
 
“Women make up about almost 60 percent of patients at HRSA-supported health centers,” said HRSA Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke. “At those centers and at HRSA-supported maternal and child health clinics across America, our clinicians help women patients understand what they need to do to maintain good health and keep chronic health problems from getting worse.”
 
Women’s Health USA 2003 also looks at racial and ethnic disparities among women for 29 topics.  In 2001, for example, non-Hispanic black women were more likely than women of other racial and ethnic groups to have diabetes.  The rate of diagnosis among non-Hispanic black women (102.5 per 1,000) was nearly twice the rate for non-Hispanic white women (55.7 per 1,000), and 1.5 times the rate for Hispanic women (68.9 per 1,000).
 
Other highlights from the report include:
 
·        In 2001, 23 percent of females aged 12 and older reported smoking cigarettes in the previous month, compared to 27.1 percent of males.  Among young people aged 12-17, however, slightly more females (13.6 percent) than males (12.4 percent) reported smoking in the past month.  Smoking rates in the last month were highest among people aged 18-25 for both women (35.7 percent) and men (42.7 percent). 
 
·        More women than men died of heart disease in 2001. Women under age 45 experienced higher rates of heart disease than men of the same age (49.7 per 1,000 for women vs. 27.9 per 1,000 for men).  As age increases, however, the rates reverse.  For adults age 75 and older, the rates climb to 248.0 per 1,000 for men and 179.5 per 1,000 for women.

·        Lung cancer (or cancer of the bronchus) was estimated to have caused 25 percent of cancer deaths among women in 2002, followed by breast cancer (15 percent) and cancer of the colon and rectum (11 percent).

·        In 1999-2000, 61.9 percent of women were overweight, including 33.4 percent who were obese. Men were more likely to be overweight and women more likely to be obese.  The likelihood of being overweight increases with age, with the prevalence of obesity highest among women aged 40-59 (37.8 percent), followed by women 60 years and older (35.0 percent).

·        In 2001, women between the ages of 26 and 49 were nearly twice as likely to experience serious mental illness as men (10.1 percent compared to 5.5 percent), while 13.5 percent of women between 18 and 25 reported experiencing a serious mental illness in the past 12 months, compared to 10 percent of men the same age.
 
·        In 2001, 61.4 percent of women and 44.4 percent of men between the ages of 25-34 years reported ever being tested for HIV.  Among women all ages, non-Hispanic black women were most likely to have ever been tested (51.4 percent), compared to non-Hispanic whites (31.2 percent) and Hispanics (40.6 percent).