ACSM city health indx 05 24

To: HEALTH, NATIONAL, AND SPORTS EDITORS

Contact: Ryan Puckett of the ACSM American Fitness Index, +1-317-450-3723, [email protected], or Rachael Niehaus of the American College of Sports Medicine, +1-317-352-3849, [email protected], or Jon Mills of WellPoint, Inc., +1-317-488-6292, [email protected]</p>

ACSM American Fitness IndexT Provides a Snapshot of the State of

Health and Fitness; Washington, D.C., Tops List of Healthiest and

Fittest Metro Areas

INDIANAPOLIS, May 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the third straight

year, the Washington, D.C., metro area claimed the highest ranking in

the American College of Sports Medicine's (ACSM) American Fitness

IndexT (AFI). The AFI data report, "Health and Community Fitness

Status of the 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas," evaluates the most

populous city areas to determine the healthiest and fittest metro

areas in the United States.

The AFI data report reflects a composite of preventive health

behaviors, levels of chronic disease conditions, health care access,

and community resources and policies that support physical activity.  

"The ACSM American Fitness Index not only measures the state of health

and fitness in our nation's largest communities, but evaluates the

infrastructure, community assets, policies and opportunities which

encourage residents to live a healthy and fit lifestyle," said AFI

Advisory Board Chair Walt Thompson, Ph.D., FACSM. "I liken the data

report and rankings to the metro areas 'getting a physical' at the

doctor's office. The information learned from the physical will help

each metro area identify areas of strength and weakness."

ACSM received a grant from the WellPoint Foundation, based in

Indianapolis, to present the 2010 data report.  

"The WellPoint Foundation is pleased to be a continuing sponsor of the

American College of Sports Medicine American Fitness IndexT (AFI)

program," said Wesley Wong, M.D., M.M.M. Regional Vice President and

National Medical Director for WellPoint's affiliated health plans and

member of the AFI Advisory Board. "This initiative enhances our health

improvement efforts across the country and allows us to be a stronger

community partner in the states we serve."

Digging into the Data

The Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) of

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria scored 73.5 (out of 100 possible

points) in the AFI data report to achieve the top ranking, just as it

did in 2008 and 2009.

Characteristics of the D.C. area that helped it achieve the top

ranking are a relatively low smoking rate, a higher-than-average

percentage of folks eating the recommended daily serving of fruits and

vegetables, and lower-than-average rates of chronic health concerns

such as obesity, asthma, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

D.C.-area residents also use public transportation regularly, meaning

they are likely to walk to and from their places of work or transit

stations. Also, the area of parkland as a percentage of the city's

land area is significant, providing residents with lots of space to

run, bike, play sports or take a leisurely walk.

Metro areas completing the top five were Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul,

Seattle and Portland, Ore. The Baltimore, Md., area (ACSM's host city

for its 2010 Annual Meeting), ranked 20th.

The western United States dominated the top 10, with only three cities

lying along the eastern seaboard. The nation's three largest cities

finished in the middle of the pack with New York at 21st, Chicago at

33rd and Los Angeles at 38th.

Education proved to be a valuable predictor of health and fitness;

areas with a high percentage of residents with high school degrees or

higher are more likely to be physically active and be in excellent or

very good health. This group is also more likely to have health

insurance.

Considering the challenging economic climate in recent years, the data

suggests being unemployed may be a health concern. Metro areas with a

higher unemployment rate are more likely to have a higher percentage

of death related to cardiovascular disease.

Poverty levels, disability rates and the rate of violent crime

correlated with other health concerns, suggesting that health

officials and programs may need to put more emphasis on populations

that may be underserved. For example, areas with a higher percentage

of households below the poverty level are more likely to smoke, be

obese, have diabetes, and have both cardiovascular disease and

diabetes related deaths. They are less likely to be physically active,

in excellent or very good health, or have health insurance.

The metropolitan rankings included in the report are:

Rank Metropolitan Area 2010 Score 2009 Rank 2009 Score

1. Washington, D.C. 73.5 1 74.4

2. Boston, Mass. 72.6 4 71.4

3. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. 71.7 2 72.1

4. Seattle, Wash. 70.5 6 69.7

5. Portland, Ore. 70.4 7 68.1

6. Denver, Colo. 69.9 3 71.6

7. Sacramento, Calif. 65.8 12 62.2

8. San Francisco, Calif. 64.7 5 71.3

9. Hartford, Conn. 64.4 11 62.5

10. Austin, Texas 63.9 9 65.1

11. Richmond, Va. 62.7 NR N/A

12. Cincinnati, Ohio 62.5 14 60.8

13. San Diego, Calif. 62.0 8 66.8

14. San Jose, Calif. 61.0 13 61.3

15. Salt Lake City, Utah 60.6 NR N/A

16. Atlanta, Ga. 57.7 15 59.3

17. Virginia Beach, Va. 57.2 10 63.1

18. Providence, R.I. 57.2 NR N/A

19. Orlando, Fla. 55.5 NR N/A

20. Baltimore, Md. 53.5 19 52.5

21. New York, N.Y. 52.9 22 48.9

22. Raleigh, N.C. 52.4 20 52.3

23. Pittsburgh, Pa. 52.0 16 54.3

24. Jacksonville, Fla. 51.2 28 45.2

25. Cleveland, Ohio 51.0 24 47.9

26. Philadelphia, Pa. 50.4 27 45.9

27. Milwaukee, Wisc. 49.2 17 53.0

28. Buffalo, N.Y. 49.2 18 53.0

29. Kansas City, Mo. 47.9 21 50.3

30. Tampa, Fla. 47.8 23 48.5

31. Nashville, Tenn. 47.8 26 46.8

32. Phoenix, Ariz. 47.4 32 42.5

33. Chicago, Ill. 47.0 25 47.6

34. Charlotte, N.C. 44.0 34 40.3

35. Columbus, Ohio 42.8 29 43.9

36. Riverside, Calif. 42.8 40 35.1

37. St. Louis, Mo. 40.5 33 42.5

38. Los Angeles, Calif. 40.5 30 43.6

39. Miami, Fla. 39.9 31 42.7

40. Dallas, Texas 39.5 35 39.6

41. New Orleans, La.(2) 37.7 NR N/A

42. Houston, Texas 37.6 41 34.7

43. San Antonio, Texas 36.9 39 35.5

44. Indianapolis, Ind. 35.9 36 39.3

45. Las Vegas, Nev. 35.3 42 34.6

46. Louisville, Ky. 32.5 38 37.7

47. Detroit, Mich. 31.9 44 30.5

48. Memphis, Tenn. 31.6 37 38.5

49. Birmingham, Ala. 31.2 43 32.2

50. Oklahoma City, Okla. 24.3 45 23.2

Scores have been rounded to the nearest tenth of a point resulting in

some apparent ties; however, the rankings are based on the full,

calculated scores that were not equal in those cases.

Editor's note: NR not ranked; N/A not available - Most of the

community/environmental data were not reported in these cities.

(2)New Orleans, La. replaced Rochester, N.Y. as the 50th largest

metropolitan area in 2010.

Putting the ACSM American Fitness IndexT Report to Work

In addition to measuring the health and fitness of the 50 largest

metro areas, the AFI data report aims to help communities develop and

implement efforts to raise awareness of the issues and policies

affecting health and fitness in their local area.

There are additional tools available on the AFI Web site

(http://www.americanfitnessindex.org) to help kick-start action in the

community, spread the message via local media and social networks, and

guide local efforts that support health and fitness.

With AFI's network of health promotion partners, community programs,

allied associations and other organizations, each community will be

able to tap into best practices and existing resources to address its

unique makeup of opportunities and challenges. The ultimate result

will be an improvement in community fitness and a reduction in the

rates of obesity and other chronic diseases.

About the ACSM American Fitness IndexT Program and Report

To assist with measurement and to provide a baseline measure of health

and fitness status, ACSM worked with the Indiana University School of

Family Medicine and a panel of 26 health and physical activity experts

on the methodology of the AFI data report. Researchers analyzed the

data gleaned from U.S. Census data, the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS),

The Trust for the Public Land City Park Facts, and other existing

research data in order to give a scientific, accurate snapshot of the

health and fitness status at a metropolitan level.

The data examined fall into two categories: 1) Personal Health

Indicators; and 2) Community and Environmental Indicators. Visit the

online newsroom at http://www.AmericanFitnessIndex.org for a complete list of

the data components.

Follow the AFI program on Twitter - @ACSM_AFI.

About the American College of Sports Medicine

The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine

and exercise science organization in the world.  More than 35,000

international, national, and regional members are dedicated to

advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational

and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine.

About the WellPoint Foundation

The WellPoint Foundation, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization

wholly funded by WellPoint, Inc. Through charitable contributions and

programs, the Foundation promotes WellPoint's inherent commitment to

enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in

communities that WellPoint's affiliate health plans serve. The

Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that address

and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as

promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational

initiative that targets specific disease states and medical

conditions. These disease states and medical conditions include:

prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac

morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and

increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations,

adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and smoking cessation.

The Foundation also coordinates the company's annual associate giving

campaign and provides a 50 percent match of associates' campaign

pledges. To learn more about the WellPoint Foundation please visit

http://www.wellpointfoundation.org.

SOURCE American College of Sports Medicine

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