Findings from the 2007 North Carolina men's health report card

Using publicly available data from the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics and other sources, the first North Carolina Men's Health Report card was created in 2007.

The report card shows that men in North Carolina (N.C.) are trending worse in the areas of diabetes and infectious disease, with African American men having higher rates than white men. The number of uninsured men in N.C is dramatically on the increase, growing by nearly 13% between 2003 and 2005, while also remaining higher than the rate among United States (U.S) men (25% vs. 20.6%, respectively). When compared to U.S. men, N.C. men have higher rates of both smoking and of smoking related illnesses such as lung cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease and cerebrovascular disease. Men in N.C. also have a motor vehicle mortality rate that is 30% higher than that seen in U.S. men. Many of these health disparities are even greater when looking at racial differences and when compared to N.C. women. A major gap in health data brought to light by this report card was the lack of information collected on the growing Hispanic/Latino population in N.C, a necessary component when looking at the health of men in N.C. The next step is to share the information from N.C. with other states, policy makers, and grassroots organizations to begin the conversation, analyze and collect the appropriate data and explore intervention and safety net programs that will address the health care issues of men.