Kansas is slipping in a widely publicized annual health ranking as its residents grow fatter.

The report puts Kansas as the 27th healthiest in the nation in the rankings released today by the United Health Foundation, which has published its annual “America’s Health Rankings” report each years since 1990.

And the report makes one trend clear: Kansans are getting fatter faster than the residents of most other states.

Seven years ago, less than 24 percent of Kansans were obese, placing the state among the least obese in the nation. That year, Kansas was ranked 17th healthiest in the nation.

This year, according to the report, nearly 30 percent of adult Kansans are obese. Only 13 states are fatter and most are in the South and Midwest.

Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi have the highest obesity rates, in excess of 34 percent of their populations. Colorado has the lowest obesity rate: 20.5 percent.
Dr. Tony Sun — market medical director for UnitedHealthcare Heartland States — said that while Kansas slipped relative to other states in obesity rates, it has shown improvement in other areas.

“While 2013 marks the first time since 1998 that America did not get worse in this key metric (obesity), Kansas did fall a bit here,” Sun said.

But, he said, “Kansas was among five states with the most significant change in smoking rates among adults, dropping from 22.0 percent in 2012 to 19.4 percent this year.”

Another bright spot is that more Kansans are physically active.

“In the past year, the prevalence of physically inactive adults decreased almost four full percentage points,” Sun said. “However, almost 490,000 adults are still physically inactive in the state, which no doubt contributes to the state’s high rate of obesity.”

Sun said changing the course of health in Kansas and the U.S. is “very much in our own hands.”

“Fifty percent of a person’s health status is a result of behavior. So at the end of the day, while it seems simple, it’s about grabbing a banana instead of a doughnut for a snack. And quitting smoking. And going for a 30 minute walk instead of parking yourself on the couch after work. It’s the collective result of making healthy decisions that can bring about big changes to population health,” he said.

Other challenges facing Kansas, according to the report:

Low per capita public health funding
Low immunization coverage among children and adolescents
The three strengths cited by the report were:

Low rate of drug deaths
High rate of high school graduation
Few poor mental or physical sick days per month
Obesity

The report’s authors said obesity is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.

“Obesity is one of the greatest health threats currently facing the United States. It contributes significantly to a variety of serious diseases including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, certain cancers, as well as poor general health.”

While obesity rates nationally have been leveling off, the percentage of obese Kansans could double in the next 15 years or so, according to a recent analysis.

Adults are considered obese if their body mass index is 30 or higher.

A report commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that if Kansas could lower its collective body mass index by 5 percent, it likely would save 7.7 percent in health care costs — almost $6 billion — between now and 2030.–-KHI News