Milwaukee has one of the worst bills of health in Wisconsin, according to a recent health study by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
The study ranked Milwaukee 72nd out of 73 areas in the state — 72 counties and the city of Milwaukee — in two categories.
The reasons for the ranking are more than residents consuming too much beer and too many brats. Researchers say several factors, like health care, health behaviors, socioeconomic factors and physical environment, play a part in the health of a community.
Milwaukee ranked second-to-last in the two categories: health outcomes and health determinants. Only Menominee County in northeastern Wisconsin was worse, according to the study's results.
Meanwhile, nearby Ozaukee County and Waukesha County ranked first and second, respectively, in both categories for best health in the state.
"I would say that's as great a contrast as one sees in the state as in the nation," said Patrick Remington, director of the UW Population Health Institute and professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
But Remington also said even the best performing counties in Wisconsin still do not have ideal health conditions.
The study reported a low ranking for the city's health outcomes, comprised of mortality and general health status. Researchers use a measure indicating years of potential life lost to determine mortality. Milwaukee ranked 72 in that outcome. In the general health status measure, the city ranked 71st with 19.1 percent of respondents in phone interviews reporting fair or poor health, according to the study.
"Poverty is a factor for early mortality and a life of being sick," said Marilyn Frenn, a professor in the College of Nursing.
The high poverty rate in Milwaukee could be one reason why people here are not living as long, Frenn said.
While health outcomes measure "how you feel today," health determinants look at the impact certain factors will have on one's health in the future, Remington said.
The city ranked 72nd in socioeconomic factors, 71st in health behaviors, 65th in health care and 49th in physical environment.
Some experts say socioeconomic factors make up 80 percent to 90 percent of a community's health and health care comprises 10 percent to 20 percent, said Ron Cisler, director of the Milwaukee-based Center for Urban Population Health and associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Health Sciences.
Some socioeconomic factors the study looked at were the teen birth rate and sexually transmitted infections, two categories in which the city ranked worst in the state. Other factors include the motor vehicle crash occupancy rate (72nd), motor vehicle crash-related emergency room visits in traffic situations (72nd) and violent crime (72nd).
Milwaukee ranked 69th in the obesity rate. Frenn, who studies obesity, exercise and nutrition, said obesity is part genetic and part environmental. Certain ethnic groups have higher rates of obesity, and those groups, particularly blacks and Hispanics, have a higher population in Milwaukee compared to the rest of the state, she said.
But it wasn't all bad news for Milwaukee. Although in 2006 Forbes Magazine proclaimed Milwaukee "the drunkest city in America," binge drinking in the city was only 35th in the UW study.
Remington said rates of binge drinking are higher among young white males in higher income areas.
The study noted two "strengths" for Milwaukee: fewer people driving alone to work and less exposure to nitrates in water.
The city's availability of mass transit and car-pooling helps the environment, Remington said.
And because the city gets its water from Lake Michigan and not from ground water in rural areas, water here is healthier, he said.