Report finds Colorado cities healthy; see link to full document
By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published March 24, 2008 at 9:05 a.m.
Updated March 24, 2008 at 9:05 a.m.
Colorado Springs has the lowest rate of AIDS incidence among the big cities in the nation, according to a new health study.
The same study, which examined the health of the nation's 54 largest metro areas, found that Denver is fourth lowest in heart disease mortality and sixth lowest in diabetes.
Colorado Springs is sixth lowest in heart disease mortality.
Both Denver and Colorado Springs are in the top 10 in lowest cancer rates, including overall, lung cancer and breast cancer.
The Big Cities Health Inventory 2007 was done for the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
The two cities' excellent ratings on diabetes, heart disease and cancer measures appear to reflect Colorado's lowest-in-the-nation obesity rate and the tendency for people here to get a lot of exercise.
Other measures:
Denver's fertility rate is the 11th highest among the big cities, and its Hispanic fertility rate is 21/2 times the rate of non-Hispanic whites.
Denver ranks 21st highest among the 43 cities that reported rates of gonorrhea, a sexually-transmitted disease. The rate among blacks in Denver is eight times higher than among whites, with Hispanics at about one-quarter the rate of blacks.
Colorado Springs had the seventh lowest gonorrhea rate, but the rates among blacks there is 18 times the rate among whites.
Featured
-
DNC in Denver
Complete coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
-
The Crevasse
A five-part series that examines one tragic day on Mount Rainier.
-
Deadly denial
Sick nuclear workers applied for government compensation but most haven't seen a dime.
-
Final Salute
The Rocky followed Maj. Steve Beck as he took on the most difficult duty of his career.
-
'Colorado's burning'
Coverage of the state's worst wildfires.
-
Columbine shootings
Coverage of the April 20, 1999, shootings at Littleton's Columbine High School.
-
The Crossing
Colorado's deadliest traffic accident killed 20 children on Dec. 14, 1961.
-
Osveli's journey
Osveli Sales left Guatemala for a better life. Two months later, he came home in a box.
-
Wake for an Indian warrior
Oglala Sioux bestow a tribute to the first tribal fatality in Iraq.
March 24, 2008
9:12 a.m.
Suggest removal
PonchoVia writes:
This is good news for Colorado, but there's another report that Colorado Springs has the 2nd highest suicide rate:
http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/16...
Interesting that Las Vegas has the highest suicide rate.
March 24, 2008
4:32 p.m.
Suggest removal
DMoe writes:
re: suicide
The largest cities in Colorado have high percentages of single people who move here because of the outdoor opportunities, etc. One downside to that these people often don't have the strong family and social networks that they might otherwise have. This, in turn, can lead to untreated depression and higher suicide rates ....