Indicator 1: Physically Unhealthy Days

• CDC collects data on adults’ physically unhealthy days through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Respondents were asked how many of the previous 30 days they felt that their physical health (including physical illness and injury) was not good.
• Older adults suffer the highest rates of poor physical health and activity limitation, according to 2004 BRFSS data.
• Racial and ethnic disparities have been reported through BRFSS in rates of physically unhealthy days. In 2004, among adults aged 65 or older, the average number of physically unhealthy days per month was 4.2 for Asians and Pacific Islanders; 5.5 for non-Hispanic whites; 6.6 for Hispanics; and 6.8 for non-Hispanic blacks. Native Americans and Alaska Natives had the highest level of physically unhealthy days at 7.4 per month.
• Call to action:
  • Monitoring recent physical health

Location Data C.I.* Rank† Grade‡ United States 5.5 n/a n/a n/a Alabama 7.3 (6.4 - 8.2) 49 Alaska 5.0 (3.1 - 6.9) 8 Arizona 5.0 (4.1 - 5.9) 8 Arkansas 6.0 (5.2 - 6.7) 39 California 5.4 (4.6 - 6.2) 16 Colorado 5.4 (4.6 - 6.2) 16 Connecticut 5.5 (4.9 - 6.1) 24 Delaware 4.9 (4.1 - 5.6) 6 District of Columbia 4.6 (3.7 - 5.6) 2 Florida 5.4 (4.8 - 6.0) 16 Georgia 6.8 (5.8 - 7.8) 47 Hawaii§ 3.2 (2.5 - 3.8) 1 Idaho 5.6 (4.9 - 6.3) 29 Illinois 6.1 (5.3 - 6.9) 41 Indiana 5.8 (5.2 - 6.4) 34 Iowa 4.8 (4.2 - 5.4) 3 Kansas 4.8 (4.4 - 5.3) 3 Kentucky 6.6 (5.8 - 7.4) 45 Louisiana 5.4 (4.8 - 6.0) 16 Maine 5.2 (4.4 - 6.0) 12 Maryland 5.0 (4.2 - 5.7) 8 Massachusetts 4.9 (4.4 - 5.6) 6 Michigan 5.9 (5.2 - 6.5) 36 Minnesota 5.2 (4.5 - 5.9) 12 Mississippi 7.3 (6.5 - 8.0) 49 Missouri 6.5 (5.7 - 7.3) 44 Montana 5.8 (5.0 - 6.6) 34 Nebraska 5.3 (4.8 - 5.9) 14 Nevada 5.6 (4.4 - 6.8) 29 New Hampshire 5.7 (5.0 - 6.5) 31 New Jersey 5.4 (5.0 - 5.8) 16 New Mexico 7.2 (6.5 - 7.9) 48 New York 5.4 (4.8 - 6.1) 16 North Carolina 6.3 (5.8 - 6.7) 42 North Dakota 5.4 (4.5 - 6.2) 16 Ohio 5.5 (4.5 - 6.5) 24 Oklahoma 6.0 (5.5 - 6.6) 39 Oregon 5.4 (4.7 - 6.0) 16 Pennsylvania 5.5 (4.9 - 6.1) 24 Rhode Island 5.5 (4.7 - 6.3) 24 South Carolina 6.6 (5.9 - 7.2) 45 South Dakota 4.8 (4.2 - 5.3) 3 Tennessee 5.9 (5.0 - 6.8) 36 Texas 6.3 (5.5 - 7.0) 42 Utah 5.7 (5.0 - 6.5) 31 Vermont 5.1 (4.6 - 5.7) 11 Virginia 5.7 (4.8 - 6.6) 31 Washington 5.5 (5.1 - 5.9) 24 West Virginia 7.9 (7.0 - 8.9) 51 Wisconsin 5.3 (4.6 - 6.1) 14 Wyoming 5.9 (5.1 - 6.7) 36

Make comparisons Healthy People 2010 Targets

= Upper Third (top performing 33%)   = Middle Third (middle 33%)   = Lower Third (lowest performing 33%)         * A confidence interval (CI) describes the level of uncertainty of an estimate and specifies the range in which the true value is likely to fall. The State of Aging and Health in America online report uses a 95% level of significance, which means that 95% of the time, the true value falls within these boundaries.         † Rankings are based on the relative numeric scores for each indicator, with a ranking of "1" indicating the highest rank.         ‡ Grades are calculated as tertiles (thirds) and show state performance relative to all other states.         § 2003 data are used for Hawaii because no 2004 data exist.           Note: When comparing prevalence of variables across states or years, we recommend the use of confidence intervals. If the confidence intervals overlap, the difference is not statistically significant.