An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of ... - Milken Institute

An Unhealthy AmericaMilken InstituteIV. Impact of Chronic Disease at the State LevelChronic Disease IndexThe prevalence of various chronic diseases andtheir economic impacts vary by state. To assess theburden of chronic disease across all states, wecreate a State Chronic Disease Index. We estimatethe number of the state’s population reportingeach of the conditions on a per capita basis, andthen benchmark each state to the state with thelowest rate. That state is assigned a compositeThe least healthy states lie in abelt of obesity and smoking thatruns from the Northeastthrough Oklahoma.value of 100. Thus, a state with a value of 70 means that the rate at which its population reports having one ofthese conditions is 30 percent worse off than the state with the healthiest population. The following map andtable display the results.Figure 15 : : State Chronic Disease IndexTop QuartileSecondThirdBottom QuartileNote: States in the top quartile have the lowest rates of seven common chronic diseases.Source: Milken Institute[ 25 ]