Half of New Yorkers believe we're less healthy than previous generation, state health department survey finds
The Suffolk County health department continues "to offer programs to help residents combat the underlying causes of chronic disease and substance use." Dr. Gregson Pigott, Suffolk health commissioner, said Wednesday. He is shown at the Suffolk health department in Great River on Oct. 29, 2020.. Credit: /Morgan Campbell
Just 25% of New Yorkers surveyed believe Americans were healthier in 2021 than they were a generation ago, according to the annual chronic disease public opinion survey released this week by the New York State Department of Health.
And 53% of those asked said they were less healthy than the generation before them — compared to 44% who thought so pre-pandemic.
New Yorkers making more than $100,000 a year or less were more likely to say they were less healthy, with a staggering 64% of respondents earning $25,000 or less a year saying they were less healthy — compared to 48% of those earning more than $100,000 a year.
The survey, conducted from Jan. 3-20 by the Department of Health in partnership with Siena College Research Institute, found an overwhelming 85% of respondents surveyed favor employers offering paid sick leave to employees for health screening — with 63% strongly in favor — the highest percentage ever recorded by the survey, which began in 2013.
“As we advance our statewide public health policies, it’s important to hear directly from New Yorkers which health issues are most important to them,” Acting State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement, adding: “This data will help the Department know where to best target our efforts and what issues matter most to people living in New York State.”
"Health surveys conducted locally over the past decade support the conclusion that chronic disease and substance-use disorder are among the highest concerns of our residents on Long Island," Dr. Gregson Pigott, Suffolk County health commissioner, said in a statement.
Dr. Norman Edelman, a pulmonologist, professor of internal medicine and core member of the Program in Public Health at Stony Brook University, said in a statement: "An important benefit of this survey is that it will let the NYS DOH know the levels of public knowledge and involvement on health problems so that they may appropriately tailor their ongoing educational activities and services, as well as identify gaps in their programs."
Dr. Said Ibrahim, senior vice president of Northwell Medicine Service Line, said surveys like this provided important information to both policymakers and health care professionals because they help shape areas to focus on.
"It gives us an understanding of what the public thinks the priorities are for them, what they are concerned about and what is it they would like to see more of," he said in a statement.
Key responses include, state officials said, that 88% of all respondents believe heroin use is a very serious or somewhat serious health concern, while 90% think the use or misuse of prescription opioids constitutes a very or somewhat serious health problem.
Tobacco use also is a serious health concern for Americans, according to 85% of respondents. And 70% believe the marketing of tobacco products by targeting communities of color is either “a very serious or somewhat serious” health problem.
According to the report, 77% of New Yorkers surveyed think alcohol consumption is a health problem, and 46% believe marijuana and cannabis use is a problem.
Interestingly, although 40% of respondents were strongly in favor of legalized cannabis, with just 17% strongly opposed, only 29% were strongly in favor of dispensaries or cannabis stores in their neighborhoods — with 10% opposed and 21% strongly opposed.
According to the survey, 57% of those making less than $25,000 a year said access to health care was a very serious problem, though the survey found the less income you had the more likely you were to believe you have influence over which public health concerns the government chooses to prioritize. Some 69% of all New Yorkers said there should be more public policies that promote healthy lifestyles, slightly down from 2020, but higher than the 59% who thought so during the first year of the survey in 2013.
Those with the lowest incomes were less likely to support — and more opposed to — such issues as the taxing of sugar-sweetened beverages and replacing high-fat and sugary items with healthy foods in organizational cafeterias and vending machines. And those with the highest incomes said they had greater access to walking and bicycling to local stores, restaurants and business, as well as to exercise, in areas safe from traffic dangers than did those making less.
The state said the findings were based a sample of 1,312 households. They said the respondents were 47% male, 51% female — with 30% ages 18-34 and 20% ages 65 and older. Ten percent were Asian, 13% Black, 18% Hispanic and 54% white.
Just 23% lived in suburban areas, while 43% were in New York City and 34% lived upstate.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
