CHARLESTON (AP) — Age, physically demanding jobs and bad habits from smoking to shunning exercise all contribute to West Virginia ranking first in the percentage of residents with disabilities.
The U.S. Census released figures this week from its annual American Community Survey showing that roughly 19 percent of West Virginians report having a disability, more than any other state. The national average is 12 percent.
The likeliest factors behind that data relate to long-term health problems the state also has in abundance, like obesity, smoking and lack of exercise. Those can lead to chronic illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which in turn can lead to disability.
Other factors could include the treatment of stroke survivors after they leave the hospital and the relative lack of access to new medications. The state’s aging population and thousands of jobs in industries like mining and logging, where serious injuries are more common than in office and retail settings, are also factors.
“I don’t think there’s a single answer,” said Mary Carter, a professor in West Virginia University’s Department of Community Medicine who also works in the school’s Center on Aging.
“It likely reflects a combination of the high rate of certain diseases prevalent in West Virginia along with certain types of industries and behaviors,” she said.
West Virginia ranks high in obesity, cigarette smoking and physical inactivity and, correspondingly, in ailments like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and hypertension.
The state also has one of the highest percentages of residents 65 or older, and Carter said older people are at greater risk of disability through injury or illness.
While disability may not be one of the consequences commonly associated with heart disease, it’s a very real possibility, said state American Heart Association spokesman Kevin Pauley.
“Especially when you’re talking about stroke, surviving that is really half the battle,” Pauley said. “Whether you recover from it, or just partly recover from it, is the other half.”
Treatment of stroke survivors after they leave the hospital is too often ignored or downplayed, Carter said.
“Too many of our stroke patients are returned home from the hospital without any outpatient services,” she said. “Right now, we don’t have good insight into how the broader health care system prevents long-term disability in those situations.”
Access to health care — in particular, prescription medication — may be one of the factors for the state’s high disability rate, according to Frank Lichtenberg, a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
Last year, Lichtenberg authored a study showing that in the five states with the lowest use of new prescription drugs — including West Virginia — disability rates grew 75 percent faster between 1995 and 2004 than in the states with the highest use of new medicine.
Lichtenberg didn’t get his data from the Census, but from the number of workers who qualify for federal disability benefits — a much more stringent measure of disability. Still, he’s not surprised by the Census data.
“Access to medical innovations and good quality medical care is part of the explanation,” he said.
Economic factors may also play a role. People with disabilities often have lower incomes and less schooling than the national average, Lichtenberg said. Lower income and disability can soon become self-reinforcing, since people with disabilities have greater obstacles to finding steady work.
At the state Division of Rehabilitation Services, which works to help people with disabilities secure new jobs or keep the ones they have, a steadily growing list of clients bears out the Census data.
The agency provided services to 10,500 people in fiscal year 2008, according to spokeswoman Tracy Carr. That number has risen to 11,102 in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, she said.
“We are seeing a steady increase, and I think you’ll see that continue,” she said.
State News
September 23, 2009
West Virginia leads nation in disabilities for many reasons
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