Northern Virginia is one of the most affluent areas in the US, and so can also boast that the wellbeing of its 2.3 million residents is, by many accounts, secure. However, a report to be released on Friday has revealed a host of underlying wellness issues, such as binge drinking among adults, delayed dental care, and a risk of depression in one out of four youths in the region.
Commissioned by the Northern Virginia Health Foundation, a non-profit group that focuses on the health of residents in Northern Virginia, the report, How Healthy is Northern Virginia, described numerous residents as being affected by mental health conditions – many of which are preventable. The Northern Virginia Health Foundation is now trying to assess the health effects of these items and whether new regulations are needed.
According to president of the foundation Patricia Mathews, some of the findings do not relate to disparities in income, and reflect the fact that residents of all income levels and racial and ethnic backgrounds face conditions challenging to their health. ‘In some of those affluent areas, people aren’t doing well at all,’ she noted. ‘If slightly more than one million people are estimated to be overweight or obese — out of a total Northern Virginia population of 2.3 million — then it is clear that we are talking about everyone.’
There were surprising contrasts in the report. For example, the counties of Fairfax, Loudoun and Arlington are the healthiest in the state in terms of disease and death rates, but more than 340,000 adults are at risk for binge drinking across the region. This is 30% of the state’s at-risk binge-drinkers, and 29% of the state’s adults who have not had a dental visit in the last two years are also in this region.
However, the more worrying statistic uncovered by the study is that more than 42,000 teens aged 14 to 19 said they felt sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in a row. This means that 26.5% of the state’s population of youth at risk for depression is in Northern Virginia, which is slightly below the national average of 28.5%. However, Matthews asserted, ‘Regardless of the national average, that’s a lot of kids.’ She added that these responses could indicate bullying or troubles at home or poor performance in school.
