Health Trends of King County

Calvin Jahng

Health Trends of Shoreline, WA

For this assignment I talked to David Reyes who is a Director of Health for King County.

One of the trends he talked about was the consumption of sugary drinks in King County. Sugary drinks are categorized as sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, sweetened fruit drinks, and sweetened coffees and teas. The consumption of these has been linked to risks for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and hypertension. Because one in five youth in King County is overweight or obese, reducing the intake of these has become a focus for health professionals in this area.

King County has one of the most extreme smoking inequities of the 15 largest metropolitan counties in the US, despite having an overall smoking rate that is among the lowest in the country. He says that the rate among Black/African-American or Multiple Race adults (about 1 in 5) is double the rate among wites (about 1 in 10) and four times that of Asians (1 in 20). He also mentioned that adults in low-income households are 3 times more likely to be smokers than high-income household adults.

Obesity is becoming an increasing problem in this area. One in five youth in this county is overweight or obese. It’s been pretty steady since 2004, but the rates still remain high. Rates are the highest among males, youth of color, and those living in the south region of the county. This is a huge problem because obesity will likely continue into adulthood, and increases the risk for diabetes and heart disease.

Asthma is another trend that Reyes mentioned. About 9% of adults have asthma and the prevalence of it has increased by about 34% so it is on the rise. Many children are affected as well (6%) and the hospitalization for these children have increased dramatically. Low-income and poverty stricken individuals are more likely to have asthma. Hospitalization for this is costly at about $9,000 per patient.

The number of people in King County with diabetes doubled in the past decade, which is something rare for an illness like this. It now affects about 6% of the population here in King County. It is potentially preventable through decreasing obesity and increasing physical activity in the population so that has been a big push for health promoters. It is a very costly disease accounting for about $1.025 million dollars.