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Show monitor, not to the actual quality; (b) the reliability of bacterial tests on which the Report Card is based is questionable; (c) many systems that are in violation are being used by small numbers of people. The Department concludes that most Utahns drink from safe water supplies. This illustrates the need to carefully consider the context of the data used as indicators. Fluoridated Water measures the percentage of the population which drinks from public fluoridated water sources. Utah ranked 50th in the nation in this category. Work-related Injury Cases measures the total reportable cases of occupational injury and illnesses per 100,000 full-time workers, by state, in private industry per year. Utah ranked 26th in the nation in this category. Healthy Neighborhoods Utah ranks in the first quartile for healthy neighborhoods. This indicates that Utah is doing well in the areas of average public assistance payment per family, cigarette tax per pack, motor vehicle deaths per 100,000 miles, violent crime, education spending per capita, childhood poverty, graduation rate, and unemployment rate. Some indicators merit discussion here: The Average Public Assistance Payment per Family is measured by the average monthly payment to a family receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Since this does not measure what proportion of the poor are served, the measure may be more an indication of concentration of support than of adequacy of support. The Violent Crime Rate presented here is an aggregate figure for 1989. The reader is referred to the violent crime subsection for more current and detailed information. Utah ranks tenth in the nation for the indicator Education Spending per Capita. This is measured by examining each state's spending on elementary, secondary, vocational, and higher education in the fiscal year 1987 and dividing by the state's population. This measure is highly influenced by family size and population age distribution. Utah's Childhood Poverty Rate is listed as 11.5%, which is measured by the percentage of children living below the federal poverty line, averaged across the years 1986 through 1990. Childhood poverty is also listed in the Demographics Section of this Review. By itself, this number does not point out that childhood poverty increased 37% between 1979 and 1989 in Utah. Healthy Behaviors Seat Belt Non-Use measures the percentage of adults over 18 reporting sometimes, seldom, or never using seat belts. The Obesity Rate measures the percentage of the population over 18 reporting body mass index of 27.8 or more for males and 27.3 or more for females. The Smoking Rate measures the percentage of adults who report having smoked more than 100 cigarettes and currently smoke regularly. Lastly, the Binge Drinking Rate measures the percent of adults reporting consuming more than five drinks on one or more occasions in the past month. More detail on healthy behavior indicators appear in the Risk Factors section(pp. 47-62). Community Health Service Utah is ranked in the second quartile for Community Health Service. Government Health Spending per Capita figures were obtained by calculating total state government spending on community health programs (not including hospitals) in 1986 and 1987 and dividing by the state population. Utah is ranked 12th on this measure. Sanitation and Sewerage Spending per Capita was measured by taking the total amount spent in 1986-87 and dividing it by the total population. Utah ranked 37th in the nation on this measure. Public Health Workers per Capita measures the number of public health workers divided by the state's population. This does not include hospital workers and physicians. Utah ranked 30th in the nation on this measure. Summary of Utah's "Grades" Utah ranks in the first and second quartile for each of these categories of public health except healthy environment. The Report Card indicates that Utah has some work to do, in some cases to improve measurement of conditions and in others to improve the actual conditions. Utah's Health: An Annual Review 1994 75 |
