Americans are sicker than they think, CDC finds

Americans are not very good at taking care of themselves. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducts a continuing telephone survey that collects health-risk data on people 18 and older. The 2006 results were released recently, and they showed ample room for improvement.

More than 85 percent of Americans reported their health as “excellent,” “very good,” or “good,” but Greta Kilmer, an epidemiologist with the C.D.C. and the lead author of the report, said they might be less healthy than they think.

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Americans are sicker than they think.

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“It may be that people are engaging in risky behaviors that will come back to haunt them,” she said. “Most chronic diseases take time to affect your health.”

• 14.7%: Said they were in poor or fair health.
• 4.7 %: Have had a stroke.
• 22.8%: Reported leisure-time physical activity during the preceding month.
• 20%: Smoke cigarettes
• 14.5 %: Have no health insurance
• 19.3 %: People over 65 with no natural teeth
• 23.5 %: Women over 40 who have not had a mammogram in the previous two years.
• 8.4 %: Told by a health professional that they have asthma.
• 11.8 %: People told they have coronary heart disease.
• 15.4%: Reported binge drinking
• 32.2%: People over 654 who have not had a pneumococcal vaccine
• 36.5 %: People who are overweight
• 42.9 %: People over 50 who have never had a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy
• 25.8%: People over 20 who are obese.
• 20.1%: Don’t always use seat belts.
• 7.5 %: Told by a health professional that they have diabetes
• 16 %: Women who have not had a Pap test in the previous three years.
• 75.9 %: People over 50 who have not had a blood stool test in previous two years.

Median percentages for all states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Except as noted, figures are for adults over 18 years.