A new population health tool debuts today, offering researchers and policymakers in New York City and 499 other urban centers nationwide a window into how its residents fare on a variety of environmental, behavioral and health measures.
The City Health Dashboard, developed by NYU Langone Medical Center and the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at NYU, features both city- and neighborhood-level data.
For some cities, this is the first time such comprehensive data has been made available, said Dr. Marc Gourevitch, principal investigator of the City Health Dashboard and chair of the Department of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine. That’s not the case here.
“New York City is rich in data to begin with,” Gourevitch said. “What we hope this resource will do is to bring into a single place not only data about health status but the drivers of health status.”
He added that New Yorkers could use the data to benchmark some of their progress in achieving better health outcomes and “bring into sharper relief some of the goals for which more progress is needed.”
The health dashboard originally launched in January as a pilot in Flint, Mich.; Kansas City, Kan.; Providence, R.I.; and Waco, Texas. The tool has since expanded nationwide with a $3.4 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The data show that 29% of New York’s schoolchildren live in poverty, compared with an average of 23.6% across the 500 cities. The rate of chronic school absenteeism exceeds the national average: 29.1%, compared with an average of 17.1%.
When it comes to social factors that are known to influence health, the city has room for improvement. The data show that 29% of New York’s schoolchildren live in poverty, compared with an average of 23.6% across the 500 cities. The rate of chronic school absenteeism exceeds the national average: 29.1%, compared with an average of 17.1%.
On the plus side, the city’s opioid death rate was lower than the average: 6.5 deaths per 100,000 people from 2012 to 2014, versus an average of 8.4 deaths across all the cities. And breast cancer fatalities were lower than the average: 22.6 breast cancer deaths per 100,000 women, compared with an average of 25.4.
On the plus side, the city’s opioid death rate was lower than the average: 6.5 deaths per 100,000 people from 2012 to 2014, versus an average of 8.4 deaths across all the cities. And breast cancer fatalities were lower than the average: 22.6 breast cancer deaths per 100,000 women, compared with an average of 25.4.
The dashboard also looks at lifestyle habits affecting health. Adult New Yorkers are less likely to smoke than their peers and just about as likely to binge drink. But they’re more likely to have been physically inactive in their leisure time. Among adults in the city, 30.5% reported no physical activity in the past 30 days, versus 25.5% for all the cities. Still, fewer New Yorkers are obese: 24.7%, compared with 28.8% nationwide.
There are definitely health challenges for New Yorkers, however. Cardiovascular deaths among New Yorkers exceeded the average rate : 227.9 per 100,000 adults, as compared with a nationwide average of 209.6. And the incidence of diabetes was higher in the city: 10.7%, compared with an average of 9.8% across the 500 cities.
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