MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — A new report released on Thursday reveals the local health trends of Montgomery County, Maryland residents including that depression is the most common health condition countywide.
Officials claim the "Health Survey in Montgomery County, MD 2022" will be used as a guide for addressing health disparities.
While Montgomery County ranks first for most health outcomes and factors among Maryland counties, officials say the unavailability of sub-county level data makes the understanding of health variations within the community difficult and can prevent planning efforts and resource allocation for population subgroups and communities.
The County's Department of Health and Human Services partnered up with Rockville-based Westat to create a mail-in survey to assess community health needs.
“In public health, data is everything, and if we can get more localized data, that’s even better,” said James Bridgers, acting director of DHHS and chief of its public health services. “Despite the availability of county-level data from some federal and state level surveys, it is essential for us to monitor local data trends over time through the regular collection of local health survey data. This is an important guide to help in our efforts to reduce health disparities in our community.”
The report summarizes a variety of findings from the health survey including demographics of respondents, health related priorities, access to health care, impact from COVID-19 and health status and health related behaviors.
Officials claim key findings include:
- Overall, mental health (18.3%) is the most important health problem and availability/access to insurance (12.8%) is the most important social/environmental factor.
- Poor eating habits (17.4%) are the most important risky behavior and low crime/safe neighborhoods (20.9%) are the most important factor making up a healthy community.
- Cost (33.3%) was the most important reason for not getting health care and 9.6% of respondents did not have health insurance. More than 75% (76.4%) of residents visited a health care provider last year and 75.9% of respondents have a primary care provider (PCP).
- 23.5% of respondents reported not participating in any physical activity and 61.6% reported drinking at least one alcoholic beverage in the past 30 days.
- 7.6% of respondents reported never having blood cholesterol checked, and 10.4% of respondents reported their last dental visit to be five or more years ago.
- 2.6% of respondents reported that they smoke daily and 10.2% reported e-cigarette/vaping use.
- Depressive disorder (25.7%) was the most common health condition, followed by arthritis (21.7%) and diabetes (15.9%).
On the COVID-19 impact topics, 52.3% of respondents indicated a family member or friend outside their household has been diagnosed with COVID-19, 15.7% reported that they have never received the flu vaccine and 14% of respondents reported that personal and family finances were the area with the highest COVID-19 impact.
Click here to review the full report.
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