Youngstown-Warren rates 153rd unhealthiest place

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By TRACEY D'ASTOLFO
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
First, the bad news.
The Youngstown-Warren area placed 153rd out of a ranking of 200 of the healthiest places for women in Self magazine's November issue.
The good news is that area women can beat the odds by making a few health-conscious adjustments.
"The bottom line is you have to make a little bit more of a conscious effort to [eat healthy and exercise]," said Youngstown physician Dr. Paul A. Rich. "I think it's tougher for people around here because it's cold for much of the year."
Self used nearly 40 criteria to determine a city's ranking, including crime statistics, obesity and smoking rates, cancer rates, environmental statistics, opportunities for working women, lifestyle issues like eating habits and exercise and health care statistics such as ob/gyns per capita, rates of sexually transmitted diseases and mental health outreach.
Youngstown actually rated better than most other Ohio cities.
Canton-Massillon came in at 127, Columbus at 140, Akron at 154, Cleveland at 176, Toldeo at 171, Dayton-Springfield at 188 and Cincinnati at 198. Rankings of Pennsylvania cities included York at 119, Pittsburgh at 136, Erie at 142 and Philadelphia at 180.
Burlington, Vt., was ranked No. 1 on the list, and St. Louis came in, uh, dead last.
Sara Austin, senior features editor at Self, said two of the factors that put this area in the lower half of the list include an above average number of women smokers and poor eating habits. The average number of cigarettes women smoke per month nationwide is 93; in this area, the average was 115 per month.
"Smoking is one of the indicators that we put a lot of emphasis on because it's such a proven health hazard. It's harming not just individuals but also the entire community's health," she said.
Based on an analysis of the number of fast food restaurants in the area and the amount of healthy foods versus high-fat or high-sugar snack foods area women eat, Youngstown fell in the bottom 4 percent of the list in the healthy eating category.
Dr. Rich said he feels the cold climate may contribute to the prevalence of these problems here. He said in colder climates people are more apt to seek entertainment at indoor establishments, such as restaurants, which can lead to poor eating habits, or bars, which are often full of smokers.
Also, he said, long days at work make fast-food meals and evenings spent on the couch in front of the television more tempting.
Dr. Rich said women in this area need to realize these factors are affecting them and therefore push themselves a little harder to develop healthy habits.
"I think you really have to work hard. At the end of the day, the typical person wants to go home and have dinner with their family. You're tired, you've had a long day, do you really want to go to the gym? You don't, but you really have to push yourself to, or have a treadmill or exercise bike at your house. But you have to force yourself to do it and don't allow yourself to use excuses," he said.
As for smoking? "There's no getting around it. You have to quit," said Dr. Rich.
Some other criteria that put the Youngstown-Warren area near the bottom of the list include poor air quality, according to the EPA, falling in the bottom one-fifth of the list, and lower than average access to ob-gyns and psychiatrists, two of the specialists "Self" looked at in terms of access to health care.
Austin said the the average number of ob-gyns in the country is 15 per 100,000 people, and the Youngstown-Warren area has only 8.7 per 100,000. The national average for psychiatrists was 16 per 100,000 people, and there are only 6.1 per 100,000 in this area.
She added that the area did have several good points, including high exercise rates, which were in the 96th percentile on the list, low depression rates and high rates of women getting mammograms.
(Could the low number of psychiatrists be linked to low depression rates?)
Austin said readers should view the list as motivation to improve their lifestyle.
"The whole point of the list is to inspire or inform our readers about how they can stay healthy in their own community, no matter where they live. It's more about how you live versus where you live, and what you do individually," said Austin.