According to an April 6 report on state public health indicators by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), California has shown improvement in reducing infant mortality, AIDS, lung cancer and coronary heart disease.

Released as par t of national Public Health Week (April 6-12), the County Health Status Profiles 2015 report provides statewide and county-level data to help guide the course of health promotion and preventive services. 

“The stories told by these data are quite encouraging,” said CDPH Director and State Health Officer Karen Smith, M.D., “but we must remember that not all communities have benefited equally from these improvements. Too many people in California still face chronic diseases related to factors such as poor diet, lack of physical activity and the use of tobacco.”

Highlights from the report include:

• AIDS incidence (among Californians aged 13 and older) decreased, showing an improvement of nearly 28 percent.


• All cancers’ age-adjusted death rates (including female breast cancer, colorectal and prostate cancer) improved, with the lung cancer death rate improving by nearly 10 percent.


• Infant mortality decreased for all races. In particular, Asian/Pacific Islander rates improved 21 percent; white mortality rates improved by 13 percent; and Hispanic rates improved by 7 percent. Black infant mortality also declined, with the rate showing an improvement of 17 percent.


• Births to teen mothers (15-19 years old) showed a decrease of 28 percent.


• The coronary heart disease age-adjusted death rate improved 9 percent.

While the CDPH report highlights progress that’s been made, there are some chronic conditions that have failed to show an improvement. Those include age-adjusted death rates for diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and chronic liver disease.