Public Health Trends in Davis County - Jennifer Layton

I contacted Cindy Burnett, an epidemiologist at the Davis County Health Department, to find out the top 5 public health trends that her county has seen.

The first trend is an increase in Sexually Transmitted Diseases. She said that was due to an increase in casual sex. What I found interesting was that she said a lot of the casual sex was due to increased internet dating, meeting people online, and hooking up. I had never even connected internet dating to an increase in STDs. Casual sex will only keep increasing, so I hope people will get checked and stay protected.

The second trend is lack of healthcare. There are many uninsured people, and even those with healthcare are often underinsured. This trend didn't really surprise me, since lack of healthcare is a big issue all over the country. She said that another part of this is that people do not seek care until they really need it. Many people think they are fine without it, then find out they are in trouble when they suddenly need care.

Third, the population is aging. There is a high number of elderly people, and with aging comes health problems. Many are affected by Alzheimer's disease, which can be the cause of much hardship in families caring for those with the disease. There are many chronic diseases generally associated with aging that are afflicting the older generation. Much care from nursing homes, private nurses, and hospitals are needed to care for these people.

In fourth, we have obesity. I was definitely not surprised to see this on the list, since we hear about it all the time. Obesity is an increasingly growing problem all over the nation. Stores abound in unhealthy convenience foods and people are indulging in unhealthy diets. Portion sizes have dramatically increased, and many are consuming more energy than needed. Another big problem related to obesity is the lack of physical activity and exercise. People are getting more and more sedentary.

Finally, the fifth public health trend seen in Davis county is tobacco use and drug addiction. Luckily, tobacco use has gone down a little now that people are more educated about all of the risks that come with it. The growing trend of drug addiction deals with prescription drugs. Many people abuse their medications, take medications not prescribed, or turn to medication in unhealthy ways. Hopefully this can be reduced if people dispose of their medications properly once they do not need them anymore.