BY: Rick Miller
rick@oleanstar.com
OLEAN — Cattaraugus County is not the healthiest place to live in New York.
The 2024 County Health Rankings and Roadmap report by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute states:
“Cattaraugus County is faring worse than the average county in New York and better than the average county in the nation” in terms of health outcomes.
Cattaraugus County Public Health Director Director Dr. Kevin Watkins reported on the report’s 2024 findings to the Board of Health on Wednesday.
Unlike previous years, New York counties were not assigned a ranking that compared their health outcomes to other counties.
In 2023, Cattaraugus County ranked 61 out of 62 counties in terms of health outcomes, sitting atop Bronx County. It also ranked number 61 in 2022.
One of the most telling indicators of the county’s overall health ranking is the number of years of potential lives lost by residents, who die before age 75.
The number of years people died before age 75 in the county in 2020 was 9,635 years per 100,000. For New York state, the number was 6,351 years per 100,000 and the U.S. was 8,000 years per 100,000.
The greatest cause of death in Cattaraugus County in 2020 was heart disease, followed by cancer, COVID-19, chronic lower respiratory disease and unintended injury.
Part of the problem can be laid to the county’s high rates of adult smoking and obesity: 21% of adults in the county are smokers compared to 12% statewide, and a 41% adult obesity rate compared to 29% in the state.
The 2024 County Health Rankings poll also showed:
• 16% of county residents complained of poor or fair health days as compared to 14% in the state. Those residents reported 3.9 poor or fair health days in the previous month as compared to 3.1 days for the state, and 5.3 poor mental health days as compared to 4.2 days in the state.
Other indicators are birth weight, mammography screening, flu vaccinations, high school and college graduation and driving alone to work where the county ranks lower than the state average.
Another part of the health equation is clinical care, where Cattaraugus County trails the state and nation in ratio to primary health care physicians, dentists and mental health providers.
There are 2,320 residents for every primary care physician in the county as compared to ratios of 1,240:1 in New York and 1,330:1 across the U.S.
Similarly, there are 2,180 residents for every dentist in the county, 1,200:1 in the state and 1,360:1 across the U.S., and 570 residents for every mental health provider in the county as compared to 2:80:1 in the state and 320:1 in the U.S.
