Gallup is out today with in-depth findings on Americans' physical health in 2010. Gallup tracks daily Americans' health and well-being as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, with more than 350,000 surveys each year.
The bad news is costly and, at times, deadly chronic conditions including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes -- along with four other illnesses -- were just as prevalent in 2010 as they were in 2009. The other bad news is that high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and cancer are all up compared with 2008.
Here are the detailed results:
Read the full article to find out which demographic groups are in the best and worst health.
A key takeaway is that more than one in four American adults have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, which is also in line with Gallup's finding that about the same number are obese. This means that each of these chronic diseases burdens more than 60 million American adults.
The result is a reduced quality of life for these individuals and their families and increased healthcare costs for them, the companies where they work, and for the United States.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index data provides a timely and detailed picture of chronic disease in the United States. Leaders can draw on this to better understand how to reduce the prevalence of these illnesses and where to focus their spending and initiatives.
Gallup.com later this month will publish physical health findings from American states and cities.
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