Oklahoma hearts are not as healthy as they ought to be. That's one unhappy conclusion we can draw from a study released recently by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC study showed that Oklahoma ranks fifth in the nation in the prevalence of heart disease, with 7.5 percent of state residents saying that they have suffered a heart attack, angina or coronary heart disease.
Why does Oklahoma fare so poorly in these health numbers? According to sources cited by the Tulsa World, we have high rates of obesity, diabetes, and smoking. Not surprisingly, the risk factors are higher for men than for women, and higher for Native Americans than for whites, blacks, Hispanics, or Asians.
Fifth in the nation—hard to see much good in this ranking. But at least we're ahead of four other states: West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee.