Flatbush Health

Health

In Flatbush, 20% of adults over the age of 18 do not have a personal doctor, which is below average for residents of New York City. One in three adults in the area are uninsured. The general health of Flatbush residents however was not terrible. Only 17% of residents were found to be in (what is considered) poor health, which is less than one out of every five residents. Even the death rate in Flatbush is lower than in New York City in general, and has been steadily decreasing since the mid 1990’s. The foremost cause of premature death in this neighborhood, as with much of America, is cancer. An average of 19% of years are lost for residents of Flatbush due to cancer, and heart disease is the second most frequent cause of years lost, following closely at 16%.

The statistics on cancer can be connected to the common problem of smoking. Though statistics show that less than one in five Flatbush residents smoke (15%) and that 62% of those smokers are trying to quit, there are still a relatively high number of people smoking. Obesity is another problem afflicting Flatbush residents. More than one in four adults (26%) over 18 qualify as obese and the numbers have been steadily increasing. In 2003 and 2004, the death count for deaths related to heart disease was above 200 and hospitalization for the same problem was close to 1,500. Diabetes has also become an issue concerning the health of Flatbush residents. One in ten adults affected by the disease. Of all the diabetes cases in Flatbush, 95% of the cases are type 2 diabetes, which is linked commonly to obesity. A NYC community health survey done in 2003 showed that less than half (49%) of Flatbush residents do any form of physical exercise at all, with 51% doing none and 16% not doing enough to fully reap the benefits. The center of disease control and prevention recommends that an adult do twenty minutes of vigorous exercise three times a week, or thirty minutes of moderate exercise five times a week.

In the past two decades, HIV related deaths have dropped dramatically in Flatbush, going from 70 out of every 100,000 people in the mid 1990’s, to 25 out of every 100,000 in 2003. Much of the results come from HIV awareness, accessibility to protection, doctors, and medication. However, the HIV death rate in Flatbush is still higher than in the rest of New York City. Less than one in three adults received an HIV test in 2003 (29%), and less than half the adults in Flatbush with multiple sex partners used condoms (47%).

Another problem in Flatbush, which is on the downfall, is childhood lead poisoning. The rate of childhood lead poisoning was 1.2% in 2003, which was higher then the average of 1% across NYC. In Flatbush, 5% of adults over age 18 have asthma. Both of these problems can be related to poor living conditions. Old lead paint that is chipping off of walls is the cause of lead poisoning. Asthma can develop from repeated inhalation of dust or particles that come from infestations (of rodents or insects).

Heath care in Flatbush for mothers and infants is not always easily accessible. For this reason, among others, mothers are more likely to receive little or no prenatal care in comparison to the rest of NYC. Luckily, this trend is also on the downfall. There has been a decrease of teenage pregnancy’s brought to full term in the past twenty years, but still around 7.5% of the babies born in Flatbush are born to mothers between the ages of 15 and 19. The infancy mortality rate is higher at .8% in this neighborhood than in New York City overall, but is also declining. Babies in Flatbush are also more likely to be born with a low birth weight. Premature babies accounted for 11% of the births in Flatbush. Flatbush also has significant problems with STD and STI transmission. A survey done by the Bureau of STD Control in 2004 reports that Flatbush has more than twice the number of Chlamydia cases when compared to the rest of NYC. (Flatbush has the third highest rate in the city). The reported cases of Gonorrhea in Flatbush as much as double the reported cases in the rest of NYC. ^[1]

References

1. ↑ The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Second Edition, 2006, nyc.gov.health