Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal deaths not associated with birth defects. Pittsburgh has a lower preterm birth rate than most benchmark cities, although African-American preterm birth rates are higher than the benchmark average. The Pittsburgh rate in this key indicator is better than most benchmark regions. More
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Preterm Births
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Mammography Rates
About 74.2 percent of women over 40 years of age in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area have had a mammogram in the past two years, slightly more than benchmark average of 73.6 percent, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. More
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Pap Smear Test Rates
About 81 percent of women age 21 to 65 in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area have had a pap smear test in the past three years–the fourth lowest percentage among all benchmark regions. Only Austin, Philadelphia and Indianapolis had lower rates. More
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Have Health Plan
Why do we do so poorly in these important measures of disease prevention? One possible partial explanation is that women in the Pittsburgh region have relatively low rates of health care coverage. For white women, Pittsburgh is fourth from the bottom. More
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Self-Reported Health Status
Health
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Self Reported Health Status
About 15 percent of people in the Pittsburgh region reported being in fair or poor health (based on their responses to one or more questions on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System’s questionnaire) in 2016. That percentage is in line with the average for Pittsburgh TODAY’s benchmark regions, but... More
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Doctor Too Costly
We also compared the percent of women who reported that they did not see a doctor because of cost in the previous year. Although indirect, this might tell us something about whether cost issues played a role in the failure to obtain mammography or a pap test. Black women in the Pittsburgh region have a... More
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Smoking Rates
Smoking rates in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, while still slightly higher than the benchmark average of 17.2 have dropped considerably in recent years. In 2016, only 17.4 percent of people in the Pittsburgh region identified as a current smoker, down from 22.4 percent of the population who said they regularly smoked in 2012, according... More
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Breast Cancer Mortality Rates
Unfortunately, the breast cancer mortality rates in the Pittsburgh region are higher for both white women than for the rest of the US or for the benchmark areas. In our region, the breast cancer mortality for white women in 2006, the last year for which data are available, was 24.8 per 100,000, as compared to... More
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Adult Physical Activity Rates
Adults in the Pittsburgh region are about as physically active as their peers in Pittsburgh TODAY’s benchmark regions, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). In 2016, about 78 percent of adults in the Pittsburgh region reported that exercised in the past month. That percentage is slightly... More