Health report findings mixed
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer
The latest health snapshot of Hawai'i shows residents still struggling with high blood pressure and obesity and not wearing their seat belts enough, but still enjoying better health overall than people on the Mainland.
That's according to the latest Health Trends in Hawai'i, produced every two years by the Hawai'i Health Information Corp. for the HMSA Foundation. The report looks at 34 measures of health status such as life expectancy, disease rates and lifestyle choices.
Some of the good news: Hawai'i residents live to age 80 on average, three years longer than the national average; one in four Hawai'i adults have high cholesterol but rates have decreased 3 percent since 2001; and cancers are being detected earlier, producing higher survival rates for patients.
Cliff Cisco, senior vice president for HMSA, the state's largest health insurer, said the information helps communities identify problems and plan for solutions.
Susan Forbes, president and CEO of Hawai'i Health Information Corp., said most people realize that Hawai'i has a growing elderly population but might not realize how fast the eldest group of residents is growing.
Hawai'i's 65 to 74 age group grew 1 percent between 1990 and 2002, while those ages 75 and older increased 33 percent, Forbes said.
Cisco said the statistics on the elderly point to some challenges in the future. "We're aging faster than any other state," he said. With many young people moving away, "we're very much a middle-aged state," he said.
A population chart of most developing nations would look like a pyramid with the smallest group being the elderly on top, then a larger middle-aged group followed by an even larger base of children. By contrast, Cisco said Hawai'i's chart would look more like the Michelin man in the tire ad. "We're sort of bulging in the middle," he said.
That older population means the community has to ensure that resources such as long-term-care facilities are available to serve the aging population.
The report indicates that one in four Hawai'i adults have been told by a doctor that they have high blood pressure. Deputy state health director Dr. Linda Rosen said that statistic can also reflect that people are more aware of the risks associated with hypertension, leading to more cases being detected.
Rosen sees the statistic as a good reminder that people should go to the doctor to check their blood pressure because the disease doesn't warn people in other ways. "You don't have any symptoms from elevated blood pressure until it's very, very high," she said, "That's why they call it the silent killer."
Forbes also noted that nearly 65 percent of the motor-vehicle fatalities for 2002 involved people not wearing seat belts or other safety restraints. "That's huge," she said. "That just amazes me."
Rosen, who is also an emergency physician, recalled a car crash in which an elderly woman who wasn't wearing a seat belt died. Her daughter and grandchild, who were in proper restraints, lived.
"Grandma was old-fashioned and didn't wear her seat belt," Rosen said. "She didn't have to die. I find that very sad."
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
