Over the past year, chronic drinking by seniors age 65 and older in Louisiana fell 18% and recommended hospital care decreased by 3% among hospitalized seniors, according to a new state-by-state ranking of senior health.
But those improvements weren’t enough to stave off a dead last ranking for Louisiana, according to rankings by United Health Foundation, which says Vermont has the healthiest senior population among all states.
The data provided with the rankings show that while Louisiana’s seniors might be drinking less—with the share of seniors who chronically drink shrinking from 4% to 3.3% over the past year—they largely don’t embrace healthy habits. Along with its No. 50 overall ranking for senior health, Louisiana also ranks among the nation’s worst states for rates of smoking and obesity among seniors, at No. 46 and No. 49, respectively.
The United Health Foundation compiles its overall rankings based on rankings of roughly 50 measurements of senior health. Louisiana’s strengths, the report says, include high flu vaccination coverage for seniors (No. 11 in the nation), low prevalence of falls (No. 7) and readily available home health care providers (No. 9). Its challenges are many, including a low percentage of dental visits among seniors (No. 48), high prevalence of food insecurity (No. 49) and high percentage of low-care nursing home residents (No. 48).
In a separate ranking released last week by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Louisiana is said to be home to the second-highest share of nursing homes with the lowest overall rankings assigned by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; the state trails only Texas.
See the complete rankings of senior health by the United Health Foundation.
—Steve Sanoski
