Seven out of 10 Alaska adults are overweight or obese, and large percentages of adults in the state have chronic conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol that are linked to the leading causes of death, according to a new report released by the state Department of Health.
The 2024 Alaska Chronic Disease Facts summary, published by the department’s Division of Public Health, also showed that 33% of Alaska high school students were overweight or obese.
Large percentages of adults and teenagers are sedentary, according to the report. Among adults, 22% engaged in no regular, and among high school students, 82% failed to have the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity, the report said.
The report is based mostly on statistics from 2022, a year in which COVID-19 was the fourth-leading cause of death, after cancer, heart disease and unintentional injuries.
The annual chronic disease report does not show trends, though trends are monitored by the department in other reporting projects.
“It’s really meant as a snapshot,” said Andrea Fenaughty, a department public health scientist. Additionally, the report is meant to educate the public, she said. “Sometimes people don’t really know what chronic disease is, so it’s a way of getting that message out.”
Along with obesity, common chronic conditions in Alaska listed in the report include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis and asthma. Chronic diseases to which they are linked – diseases that last for long periods – include heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and liver disease.
In all, seven of the top 10 causes of death in Alaska are linked to chronic conditions, Fenaughty said.
While cancer is Alaska’s leading cause of death, large percentages of Alaskans have missed the recommended screenings to detect the disease and treat it early.
Among women aged 40 and older, 40% had failed to get a mammogram in the prior two years. Among adults aged 50 to 75, 44% had failed to get recommended colorectal cancer screenings.
Cancer causes about a fifth of Alaska’s deaths, the report said. The most common causes of cancer deaths in Alaska as of 2022 were lung cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer, the report said. The most commonly diagnosed cancers in Alaska, as of 2020, were breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer, the report said. Those four cancers represent about half of Alaska’s cancer cases, the report said.
Most of the statistics are similar to those in the chronic disease report issued by the division last year, which reflected data from 2021 and earlier.
However, there were a few signs of improvement.
Among high school students, the report said that 17% regularly use electronic cigarettes, also known as vapes, down from the 26% level in the previous report. Among adults without diabetes, 27% had not gotten the recommended blood-sugar tests within the prior three years, as recommended. That is significantly lower than the 54% who had missed those recommended tests in 2020, as reported in last year’s chronic disease brief.
The report concludes with some recommendations, including for individuals to make lifestyle changes to ward off the chronic conditions linked to poor health and fatal diseases. To help people do that, the Division of Public Health has a program, Fresh Start, that provides guidance and coaching.
Reflecting Alaska’s aging population, a new part of the Fresh Start program concerns dementia, Fenaughty said.
“Right now, it’s largely focused on awareness of dementia and the fact that there are really lots of things you could do to reduce your chances of getting dementia. People don’t often think of it as being preventable,” she said.
Additionally, the Division of Public Health has a Play Every Day program that encourages fitness and healthy habits among youth.
The report also recommends some community actions and policies to help people pursue healthier lifestyles and habits. In sum, said the report: “Make the healthy choice the easier choice.” Examples of helpful policies listed by the report are tobacco-free workplaces, easier access to safe places to walk and otherwise exercise, good physical education programs at schools and disease-prevention programs at workplaces.
Reducing chronic health problems through public policy is a long-term effort, Fenaughty said. She pointed to decades of tobacco-cessation policies that led to current smoking rates being much lower than they were in the past.
“It did take a couple of decades, and something like that involves all kinds of people at the community level, at the statewide level, all different partners,” she said.
