If you get a flu shot every year, maintain a healthy weight and don’t smoke, give yourself a pat on the back. Your habits are considerably healthier than the average McLennan County resident.

A recently released survey shows local residents are plagued by a host of health problems.

The community has made some gains in recent years, though. For example, more women are getting early prenatal care.

But such improvements are overshadowed by high rates of serious health conditions, many avoidable with lifestyle changes.

More than 60 percent of adults and nearly 40 percent of children are overweight. Plus, the number of people with diabetes is more than double the state and national averages, despite several ongoing programs aimed at combating the disease.

“Diet and exercise would help alleviate a great number of the chronic diseases in our population,” said Roger Barker, executive director of the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District, which commissioned the study.

The survey was conducted last fall. It involved 1,211 phone interviews with people from all areas of the county.

The results don’t include many surprises, Barker said.

Public health officials are aware of the main challenges facing local residents. But the data underscore the need for continued action and help illuminate which initiatives seem to work, he said.

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SOURCE: Waco-McLennan County Public Health District

One area of success was public education concerning H1N1, or swine flu.

Some 76 percent of people said they would be willing to get vaccinated against the illness. Barker attributed that high figure to public health officials emphasizing the importance of immunization last fall. Even as late as last month, people were coming to the health district to get the vaccine, he said.

Residents’ response to the threat of seasonal flu was not as rosy. Just 51.7 percent of those surveyed reported being vaccinated in the past year. But that percentage is on par with national statistics and represents an improvement from past years.

In 2006, the last time the study was conducted, 47.6 percent of participants had been vaccinated for seasonal flu. In 2001, 33.6 percent were immunized.

Another area in which the numbers improved, Barker said, concerns where people get medical care.

Seventy-nine percent of those surveyed said there is one place they usually go for medical care, such as a doctor’s office or clinic. In contrast, 9 percent said they have no “medical home.”

About 70 percent of people reported having a medical home the last two times the survey was conducted.

A related statistic looked at how many people regularly went to the emergency room for routine care. Of those without a single medical home, 14 percent used the ER.

In the previous two studies, about 21 percent of people said they went to the ER for routine care.

Kent Keahey, CEO of Providence Heath Center in Waco, said he wishes he was seeing similar numbers at his hospital. But that’s not the case.

Usage of the emergency room this year is up nearly 11 percent over last year, and a significant portion of those patients are getting routine care, he said.

The phenomenon was particularly bad last fall during flu season, Keahey said.

People who go to the ER for routine treatment are typically underinsured or uninsured, he said. So the fact that more people than average in the survey group were insured might explain the discrepancy, he said.

Eighty-two percent of those surveyed indicated they were insured. Estimates for the number of uninsured residents in McLennan County range from 20 percent to 25 percent.

Improved areas

Another bright spot in the data is that more women are getting prenatal care early.

Sixty-six percent said they started prenatal care in the first month of pregnancy, and 22.5 percent started it the second month.

In 2006, only 22.7 percent of women said they got prenatal care in their first month.

In 2001, that statistic was 47 percent.

Also positive is how many people get regular checkups, Barker said. Seventy-four percent said they had gone to a routine doctor’s visit in the previous year.

Unfortunately, those patients likely had plenty of problems to discuss during those visits, the survey reveals. The prevalence of heart problems, lung conditions, high blood pressure and unhealthy body weight is concerning, Barker said.

Also alarming is how many people have diabetes, Barker said. Just more than 20 percent of residents said someone in their household has diabetes. That’s about the same as four years ago but up 6 percent from 2001.

Nationwide, 8.3 percent of households include someone with diabetes. In Texas, 9.7 percent of households include a diabetic.

Although the health district has tried to address issues like diabetes through various programs, officials plan to re-evaluate their efforts this summer, Barker said.

They will use the data to help determine which initiatives need retooling, he said.

Dr. Bradford Holland, president of the McLennan County Medical Society, said its members are looking forward to being briefed on the survey.

Any information doctors can get about residents’ health should help them better care for patients, he said.

Having local data to work from is more helpful than using state or national numbers as guides, he said.

“You don’t often get a snapshot or window into the local health scene,” Holland said.

Keahey agreed, saying the information will be useful for planning purposes. One reason Waco’s two hospitals help fund the study, he said, is to identify unmet needs in the community.

“We use it to respond as best we can,” Keahey said.

cculp@wacotrib.com

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