Douglas County is the third healthiest of Nevada’s 17 counties, according to a recent Health Factors rating that compares a collection of health factors.
The overall ranking is based on two types of measures: how long people live and how healthy people feel.
The factors assessed are the rate of death before age 75; percent of people who report being in poor or fair health; numbers of days people reported being in poor physical and mental health; and the rate of low-birthweight babies.
The top spot went to Lincoln County with Pershing in second.
Behind Douglas is Washoe as fourth healthiest, Storey 11th, Carson 12th and Lyon 14th. Mineral County placed last.
Researchers also studied other factors — health behaviors, clinical care, environmental, social and economic — although they weren’t used to determine overall rank.
Douglas scored first for health behaviors, noting its low rates of adult smoking, obesity and excessive drinking. It also scored well for clinical care factors such as number of preventable hospital stays.
It scored second in social and economic factors like high school graduation and unemployment rates but 14th in environmental factors, which considered air pollution, drinking water violations and other factors.
To see how each county scored, go to www.countyhealthrankings.com.
