Vermont was ranked the healthiest state in the US for the second year in a row, according to a report from the United health Foundation, the Partnership for Prevention and the American Public Health Association.

The report found that across the state smoking has dropped to 17.6 percent.

Although obesity is on the rise in Vermont it is increasing at a lower rate than any other state, according to the report released Wednesday.

This is the second year in a row that Vermont topped the rankings.

Hawaii ranked second while New Hampshire took the third spot.

On the bottom of the list moving from 49 last to 50 this year was Louisiana.

Louisiana has a high rate of obesity and childhood poverty.  The number of unisured was also a contributing factor, CNN reported.

The state has ranked at or near the bottom of the list every year since it was first published in 1990.
Rounding out the bottom 10 were South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nevada and Georgia.

According to American's Health Rankings, this report looks at the four groups of health determinants that can be affected:

1. Personal behaviors include the everyday activities we do that affect our personal health. It includes habits and practices we develop as individuals and families that have an effect on our personal health and on our utilization of health resources. These behaviors are modifiable with effort by the individual supported by community, policy and clinical interventions.

2. Community & environment reflects the reality that the daily conditions in which we live our lives have a great effect on achieving optimal individual health.

3. Public and health policies are indicative of the availability of resources to encourage and maintain health and the extent that public and health programs reach into the general population.

4. Clinical care reflects the quality, appropriateness and cost of the care we receive at doctors’ offices, clinics and hospitals.

All health determinants are intertwined and must work together to be effective.

Source: http://www.thathappened.net/science/2008/12/03/louisiana-ranked-most-unhealthiest-state-report/