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'Healthwatch'
Aired November 17, 2003 - 13:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Doctors are pretty worried about this year's flu season. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to tell us why getting that flu shot I guess is a little more important than ever right now.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know why, this is an early flu season. This is one of the earliest flu season that they're seen in years. They've seen lots of activity. It's only the middle of November. Texas and Colorado have had some serious outbreaks.
And now another reason why this could be a particularly bad season is that one of the strains of flu that's out there is not included in the vaccine. Every spring, they decide what to put in the vaccine for the following fall and winter, and they missed one, which happens sometimes, and this strain that got missed in the vaccine is a particularly virulent strain and can make people sick.
SO the bottom line is, even having said that, is to still get a flu shot. A flu shot will still protect you against the other strains of flu that are out there, and get it early. Sometimes people wait until December, January, not a good year to wait.
PHILLIPS: All right, well, you were saying something about state health rankings. I guess depending on where you live, are you prone to getting sick or not this time of year?
COHEN: Yes -- well, not necessarily this time of year, but states have different health profiles, if you will, and various groups have gone and looked at different facts about each state, and ranked the states according to how healthy they are, basically.
So let's take a look at the five healthiest states, Minnesota and New Hampshire tied for first. And then third would be Utah, and then Vermont, and then Massachusetts.
And what exactly makes a healthy state? Well, they have the fewest auto accidents. The best access to prenatal car, the lowest smoking rates and the fewest children living in poverty -- excuse me. And let's take a look at the five worst states. Those would be Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee. And what makes them the worst? Well, they have the highest smoking rates, they also have the highest number of residents who are uninsured, the highest rates of heart disease and cancer and the most children in poverty, when you compare it with other states. Now, unfortunately, this is not the first time that those states have been the least healthy. Oftentimes, you see the same ones over and over again in these types of surveys.
PHILLIPS: So is the nation getting healthier or not?
COHEN: The nation as a whole actually is getting healthier. That's the good news. They've been doing this survey since it was a private research group that did the survey. They've been doing it for 14 years now, and they found that many things have gotten a lot better. For example, infant mortality, infectious diseases and motor vehicle accidents have gotten better by about 35 percent, so that's a lot, and that's the good news. The bad news is that when you look at the past few recent years, a number of risk factors. For example, obesity has gotten worse. Smoking rates are still about the same as they've been for the past few years. So it's not all good news, but if you look at the bigger picture, many things have gotten better.
PHILLIPS: Excess of 50 million diets out there, too.
COHEN: That's right.
PHILLIPS: We don't know which, depending on your body type.
All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 17, 2003 - 13:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Doctors are pretty worried about this year's flu season. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to tell us why getting that flu shot I guess is a little more important than ever right now.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know why, this is an early flu season. This is one of the earliest flu season that they're seen in years. They've seen lots of activity. It's only the middle of November. Texas and Colorado have had some serious outbreaks.
And now another reason why this could be a particularly bad season is that one of the strains of flu that's out there is not included in the vaccine. Every spring, they decide what to put in the vaccine for the following fall and winter, and they missed one, which happens sometimes, and this strain that got missed in the vaccine is a particularly virulent strain and can make people sick.
SO the bottom line is, even having said that, is to still get a flu shot. A flu shot will still protect you against the other strains of flu that are out there, and get it early. Sometimes people wait until December, January, not a good year to wait.
PHILLIPS: All right, well, you were saying something about state health rankings. I guess depending on where you live, are you prone to getting sick or not this time of year?
COHEN: Yes -- well, not necessarily this time of year, but states have different health profiles, if you will, and various groups have gone and looked at different facts about each state, and ranked the states according to how healthy they are, basically.
So let's take a look at the five healthiest states, Minnesota and New Hampshire tied for first. And then third would be Utah, and then Vermont, and then Massachusetts.
And what exactly makes a healthy state? Well, they have the fewest auto accidents. The best access to prenatal car, the lowest smoking rates and the fewest children living in poverty -- excuse me. And let's take a look at the five worst states. Those would be Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee. And what makes them the worst? Well, they have the highest smoking rates, they also have the highest number of residents who are uninsured, the highest rates of heart disease and cancer and the most children in poverty, when you compare it with other states. Now, unfortunately, this is not the first time that those states have been the least healthy. Oftentimes, you see the same ones over and over again in these types of surveys.
PHILLIPS: So is the nation getting healthier or not?
COHEN: The nation as a whole actually is getting healthier. That's the good news. They've been doing this survey since it was a private research group that did the survey. They've been doing it for 14 years now, and they found that many things have gotten a lot better. For example, infant mortality, infectious diseases and motor vehicle accidents have gotten better by about 35 percent, so that's a lot, and that's the good news. The bad news is that when you look at the past few recent years, a number of risk factors. For example, obesity has gotten worse. Smoking rates are still about the same as they've been for the past few years. So it's not all good news, but if you look at the bigger picture, many things have gotten better.
PHILLIPS: Excess of 50 million diets out there, too.
COHEN: That's right.
PHILLIPS: We don't know which, depending on your body type.
All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
