New data on tobacco use, asthma, obesity and diabetes for Cleveland adults and youth

Cleveland Department of Public Health and Case Western Reserve University jointly released new data on tobacco use, asthma, obesity, and diabetes for both youth and adults in Cleveland. This is the first time that such detailed health information has ever been released on both Cleveland youth and adults together.

Steps to a Healthier Cleveland, a program of the Cleveland Department of Public Health, in conjunction with the Case Center for Health Promotion Research and Center for Adolescent Health, has released new data about diabetes, asthma, obesity (including nutrition and access to healthy foods), tobacco use, lack of physical activity and poor nutrition for Cleveland adults and youth.

Using the 2005 and 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Surveys (BRFSS) and the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBS), these centers developed a series of reports. The 2007 YRBS data reflects self-reported behaviors such as physical activity, nutrition, and obesity, tobacco, alcohol and drug use, safety and violence exposure, suicide and self-reported health.

Asthma among youth

For example, nearly 22% of high school students in the Cleveland Municipal School District report that they had been told by a doctor or nurse that they had asthma during their lifetime. 12%, or 1 in 8, of these same students currently have asthma according to their health professional, and more than a third of these needed to visit an emergency room due to asthma symptoms.

Suicide ideation among youth

13.4% of CMSD high school students admitted to thinking about suicide in the 12 months preceeding their interview, covering time in 2006 and 2007.

See  the home page of the Center for Health Promotion Research for links to the report on Cleveland youth for 2007.

Other information released in the reports include the following highlights:

Tobacco use

• Greater use of little cigars but less cigarette smoking among Cleveland youth compared to similarly age youth nationally
• Over half of Cleveland adults have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.

Obesity

• Over two-thirds of Cleveland adults are overweight or obese, and among these, 3 in 4 are trying to lose weight. Among youth, more than one-third of Cleveland students are trying to lose weight.

Data briefs on adult asthma, tobacco use, obesity, and diabetes can be found at either of these two links:

• Steps to a Healthier Cleveland
• Case Center for Health Promotion Research