Unrealized Health Potential: A Snapshot of Hawaii

Publication Date: October 2008

Publisher: RWJF Commission to Build a Healthier America

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America is examining how we live our lives and how the surrounding social, economic and physical environment can affect our health.

Based on two important indicators of health, infant mortality and children’s general health status, children in Hawaii are not as healthy as they could be. The levels of health for most Hawaii children fall short of levels for children in the most advantaged subgroups in the state and across the country. This snapshot describes these gaps as well as the social factors that are linked with these differences in health.

* Hawaii ranks 6th among states based on the size of the gap in infant mortality by mother’s education, when comparing the current overall state rate of 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births with the lower rate—5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births—seen among infants born to the state’s most educated mothers.
* Hawaii ranks 22nd among states based on the size of the gap in children’s general health status by family income, when comparing the current overall rate of 13.3 percent of children in less than optimal health with the lower rate—6.8 percent—seen among children in higher-income families.