Introduction
Compared to the previous decades, healthcare services have improved greatly. Not only have the means for curing the diseases that used to be a death sentence been developed, but also specific approaches for addressing the emerging health issues have been created. Analyzing the current health situation in Kingsbridge and Riverdale and comparing it to the general data concerning New York City will allow us to evaluate the progress that has been made so far and to come up with certain solutions.
Self-Reported Health Status
In Kingsbridge and Riverdale, only 16.1% of the population reported their health condition as “poor”, while 39.6% considered it “very good”. Compared to the rest of the NYC neighborhoods, the given score is quite low, mostly because only 11.7% of the Kingsbridge and Riverdale reported their health status as “excellent”, while in other areas, 14% and more did.
History of Depression
Depression rates are rather average in Kingsbridge and Riverdale; with only 14.8% of the population ever having depression, the city scores pretty low on the list.
Overweight and Obesity
Considered a truly nationwide problem, overweight and obesity seem to have taken over New York City as well; however, in Kingsbridge and Riverdale, the obesity records are surprisingly low; only 21.2% of the population are classified as obese, while 39.2% are considered in and even under normal weight.
Diabetes Ever
Diabetes does not seem to be the current problem in Kingsbridge and Riverdale as well – according to the chart, only 7.8% of the population suffers from diabetes, which is the fifth next lowest score in New York City.
Smoking Status
As for the smoking status, there seems to be no improvement in the Kingsbridge and Riverdale region. Statistics say that 12.2% of the population, i.e., 8,000 people, smoke regularly, and only 25.3% have stopped smoking. The New York City smokers chart does not seem to offer a good forecast, either: there are more than 16% of current smokers in fifteen neighborhoods.
HIV Testing
According to the existing evidence, 13,000 people have been tested in the past 12 months, 24,000 people who were tested more than a year ago, and 32,000 people who have never been tested at all in Kingsbridge and Riverdale. Compared to the general NYC statistics, the number of tests on HIV is quite big in Kingsbridge and Riverdale, since in NYC, 41.8% of men and 38.4% of women have never had an HIV test.
It is worth mentioning that the problems that have been listed above have been around for quite a while; unfortunately, some of them remain unsolved, even though there has been a lot of research devoted to the issue. Overall, every single problem that has been listed above occurs in the data list of the New York City Community Health Surveys, which is quite a downer. In addition, it seems that the list of health issues has grown even larger over the past few decades; for instance, the items under the caption “Cigarette smoking and alcohol” have become quite numerous. However, it is important to note that a number of these problems have been addressed: there are 2008 physical activity recommendations in the section concerning the problems related to excessive weight, smoke-free home policies being developed, etc. Generally, the statistics show that proper care is taken of the existing health issues both in New York and all over the United States.
Finally, speaking of the “Age-Adjusted” section, one must give credit to the people who have gathered the statistics and organized the data, since the given section allows to compare the percentages of the population in case there is a huge gap in their age profiles.