Profile of the health of a Pipestone County resident




 

 

A sampling of adults in Pipestone County who are representative of the county’s adult population have self-reported their health as “very good” or “good,” yet nearly three-quarters of them are considered overweight or obese based on height and weight.

That finding was one of the many that came from the 2015 Southwest Minnesota Healthy Communities Survey recently conducted. The survey shows that 31 percent of Pipestone County survey respondents are obese, a higher percentage than the statewide obesity rate of 27.6 percent, according to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), and more in line with the rates in neighboring states South Dakota (30.4 percent) and Iowa (32.1 percent).

Ann Kinney, PhD., senior research scientist with the MDH’s Center for Health Statistics, Wilder Research and local health departments, including Southwest Health and Human Services (SWHHS) in Pipestone County, designed the survey, which was unique to southwest Minnesota. The local health departments worked with Wilder Research to conduct the survey between April and July 2015 to learn about the health and health habits of residents of 16 counties in southwest Minnesota.

The Healthy Communities Survey was mailed to 1,200 residential addresses in Pipestone County that were randomly selected from a list of addresses from the U.S. Postal Service. Kinney said 1,200 addresses were selected because that’s what the project, funded with a Statewide Health Improvement (SHIP) grant, could afford.

Of the 1,200 people in Pipestone County invited to participate in the survey, 328 completed it for a 28 percent response rate. Even though that only represents 3.5 percent of the county’s population of 9,271, Kinney said the results are representative of the county’s adult population as a whole.

“Because the sample was drawn using standard scientific survey research practices, that is, drawn randomly from an excellent sampling frame, the data from Pipestone County are representative of that county’s adult population,” Kinney said.

Kinney said larger samples reduce the sampling error in this case, plus or minus 8 percent “which would make those data more precise,” and enable survey takers to examine data from subgroups within the sample. But she stressed it was the sampling method that determined a survey’s reliability.

Carol Biren, M.S., division director of public health/CHS administrator with SWHHS, Biren said all local health departments in the state conduct health surveys, but the timing and some of the questions vary depending on funding and the local health department. She said the survey results will be used to drive public health efforts and create policy intended to help Minnesotans live longer and healthier lives.

The results of the survey, released earlier this summer, provide a snapshot of the dental and mental health, physical activity, tobacco use and nutrition of southwest Minnesota residents. Below are findings from each category specific to Pipestone County residents. Changes of 10 percentage points or more since the last time a health survey was done in southwest Minnesota in 2010 are noted as are variations from the region as a whole.

Nutrition

Fewer than one third (32 percent) of Pipestone County survey respondents reported eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About that same percentage, 28 percent, drank regular soda and another 28 percent drank diet soda on the day prior to taking the survey.

Almost two-thirds of Pipestone County respondents (65 percent) eat fast food at least once in a typical week and over half (58 percent) eat at least once a week in a restaurant that is not fast food. Most who do eat out reported doing so two times or less per week.

Nearly all Pipestone County respondents eat one home-cooked in a typical week, but only half eat a home-cooked meal every day. About twice as many said they never eat meals while watching TV (28 percent) than said they watch TV while eating a meal every day (15 percent).

Almost all Pipestone County respondents said there is a large selection of high quality fruits and vegetables where they usually shop for groceries, but 56 percent said they are too expensive. Ten percent said they travel more than 20 miles (one way) to buy groceries and most buy

 

 

groceries at least once a week.

During the growing season, about a third obtain food from a home or community garden, but few buy food from a farmers market.

Thirteen percent of Pipestone County respondents reported that they sometimes or often during the past 12 months worried that their food would run out before they had money to buy more, and 7 percent reported using a food shelf in the last year.

Physical activity

Most Pipestone County respondents (57 percent) said they do not meet the physical activity recommendations of either 30 minutes of moderate activity five or more days a week or 20 minutes of vigorous physical activity three or more days a week. Twenty percent said they met both moderate and vigorous physical activity recommendations and 22 percent said they did not participate in any physical activity or exercise beyond their regular job in the last 30 days.

The biggest reported barriers to physical activity reported by Pipestone County respondents were a lack of self-discipline or will power, lack of time, and the cost of programs.
Most respondents reported living in communities that have a limited variety of resources for physical activity, with the most commonly used resources being a park or sport fields, and walking paths or trails.

Pipestone County respondents were more likely than others in the region to use public recreation or community centers and are less likely to have schools, shopping malls or nearby waterways at which they can be physically active.

Less than half of respondents (42 percent) reported more than two hours of screen time (television, computers, mobile devices)a day, down from 73 percent the last time a health survey was conducted in southwest Minnesota in 2010.

Tobacco use

Fifteen percent of Pipestone County respondents are current smokers, 24 percent are former smokers and 61 percent have never smoked. Just 2 percent said they use e-cigarettes and fewer than half (46 percent) said they’ve seen someone use an e-cigarette in Minnesota.

Of the current and former smokers, 43 percent said they stopped smoking for one day or longer in the last year because they were trying to quit. The most common and successful quitting method used was to quit without any assistance from nicotine replacement medications, counseling or other forms of support.

Few Pipestone County respondents said they allowed regular smoking in their homes (6 percent) or reported riding in a vehicle with someone who was smoking in the last week (12 percent), but 26 percent said they were exposed to secondhand smoke in a public outdoor place in Minnesota in the last week.

Dental health

Nearly two-thirds of Pipestone County respondents said they had their last dental exam or teeth cleaning within the last year, but nearly a third said there was a time in the last 12 months that they needed dental care, but did not get it or delayed getting it. The most common reason people delayed or did not receive dental care was because it cost too much and they did not have insurance.

The overall dental health of Pipestone County respondents was comparable to the region, but Pipestone County respondents were more likely to have delayed or not received dental care due to the cost.

Mental health

Fifteen percent of Pipestone Count respondents have been told by a doctor that they have depression, 14 percent have been told they have anxiety or panic attacks and 4 percent have been told they have other mental health problems. Eight percent of respondents said they delayed or did not receive mental health care when they needed it in the last year.

The number of respondents was too low to draw a conclusion about why they did not receive care, but the top reasons respondents from the 16-county region said they delayed or did not receive care was because they didn’t think the issue was serious enough, it cost too much and they were too nervous or afraid.

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