According to data from Quick Facts United States Website, the total population estimates for Los Angeles County for the year ending July 2018 was 10,105,518, a slight increase from the figure of 9,818,605 that was recorded in the census exercise carried out on April 2010. In terms of age and sex, 50.7% of the population comprised of females, 13.6% was made up of persons aged 65 years and above, 21.7% was made up persons aged 18 years and below while 6.0% of the population comprised of persons aged 5 years and below. In terms of race, 70.8% of the population was made up of Whites alone, 9.0% comprised of African Americans, 1.4% comprised of American Indians, 15.4% comprised of Asians alone, Hispanic or Latino comprised of 48.6% and White alone, not Latino or Hispanic comprised of 26.1%. in terms of housing, the county has a total number of 3,561069 housing units, of which 45.8% is owner-occupied. The median gross rent estimated was recorded at $1,390. Lastly, in terms of education, 78.7% have attained high school level or higher whereas 31.8% have attained a bachelor’s degree or higher (Quick Facts - United States, 2020).
Epidemiological Data
According to data from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps , the epidemiological report for Los Angeles County, indicate that the mortality rate was highest for African Americans, followed by Whites (County Health Rankings, 2020). The Latinos and Asians were the next population groups that were impacted most. The mortality rate was also observed to be higher in the male population as compared to the female population. The leading causes of death in the country based on the 2010 census results were coronary heart diseases (102.9%), Alzheimer’s disease (38.7%), stroke (35.0%), diabetes mellitus (27.6%) and lung cancer (24.7%), etc. The top 5 leading cases that resulted in premature death included coronary heart diseases (51,515) unintentional drug overdose (27,743), suicide (26,016), motor vehicle crash (25,915) and homicide (24,769), etc (County of Los Angeles Public Health, 2019).
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How Population Health Data Helps Identify Priority Areas of Concern
From the findings, it is evident that health data helps authorities in public healthcare to identify the priority areas, for instance, the areas with population groups with the highest mortality rate, the causes of the high mortality rate, the leading causes of death in the county and even prevalence of poverty. With these data, the county can come up with population-based public health initiatives designed to prevent diseases in the areas of concern, limit the impact of the leading causes of deaths and promote the general health wellbeing of the people. The findings also help the county to prioritize the identified health issues in the areas of concern through the application of an effective intervention wheel (Truglio-Londrigan & Lewenson, 2017). Some of the applicable solutions that can be implemented in the identified areas of concern include health teaching, counseling as well as consultation. For example, counseling is an effective solution to limiting the adverse consequences of areas in Los Angeles identified to have suicide as a leading cause of death.
References
County Health Rankings. (2020). County Health Rankings and Roadmaps: https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/
County of Los Angeles Public Health. (2019). Patterns of mortality rate in Los Angeles County 2008-2017. Office of Health Assessment & Epidemiology , 1-20.
Quick Facts - United States. (2020). QuickFacts . Quick Facts - United States: https://info.nicic.gov/ces/node/17
Truglio-Londrigan, Lewenson, S. (2017). Public Health Nursing: Practicing Population-Based Care. Jones & Bartlett Learning: Massachusetts.
