Magazine says McAllen area bad place for women to give birth

McALLEN — The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area has once again risen to the top of the charts — and not in a good way.

The region is now ranked as the worst place in the country for women to have a baby, and is also the fattest region in the United States, according to an annual women’s health survey published in the December issue of SELF magazine that hit newsstands Tuesday.

The magazine examined more than 50 criteria — including exercise and eating habits, rates of heart disease and depression, and environmental measurements, among many others — to rank the nation’s 100 largest metro areas.

On the plus side, the McAllen area was named the third “least smoky” metro area, with fewer than 6 percent of women reporting they smoke each day. However, the magazine ranked the area 58th for its overall health.

Neither Brownsville nor Harlingen was ranked in the survey.

The McAllen area is a study in contrasts when it comes to health, said Sara Austin, features director for SELF and author of an article based on the health survey.

“Every hometown has its strengths and weaknesses, but the Rio Grande Valley area is intriguing in that both its highs and lows are so dramatic,” Austin said in a statement.

The region was named the worst place to have a baby, because it has the fewest obstetricians and gynecologists per capita in the country; it has a high percentage of uninsured women, and too few Valley women take folic acid — which plays a major role in preventing birth defects. Obstetrician-gynecologist data came from the American Medical Association, Austin said.

The McAllen area earned the dubious distinction of “fattest city” because its average body-mass index is nearly 29, Austin said. A body-mass index of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, and 30 and above is considered obese, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite these low grades on the McAllen area’s report card, the region earns high marks for its low rate of smoking among women, as well as the fact that local women are less likely to die of heart disease or cancer than anywhere else in the United States, Austin said.

The region’s performance in the survey isn’t necessarily surprising, said Dr. Brian Smith, regional director for the Texas Department of State Health Services’ Region 11, which includes the Valley.

“It’s exactly true that there are fewer (obstetricians-gynecologists) per capita, and there are low rates of prenatal care and folic-acid intake,” he said.

Smith hopes that a new prenatal-care program under the Children’s Health Insurance Program will improve health care for women of childbearing age.

Access to health care is also a persistent problem in the region, he said. As the population increases and a high percentage continue to be uninsured, many women still don’t have access to a doctor, he said.

“It takes the whole community working together to address that,” Smith said.

Some officials said they don’t think the survey provides an accurate picture of the Valley’s health.

“We have problems, but I think they’re getting better,” said Eduardo Olivarez, chief administrative officer of the Hidalgo County Health Department, noting women here have greater access to health care than before.

“(The survey) makes it look like we’re a third-world community, and we’re not. We’ve come a long way,” he said.

A panel of women’s health experts determined the criteria used in the survey, Austin said. The data used came from the CDC, the AMA and federal agencies.

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Melissa McEver covers health and environment issues for Valley Freedom Newspapers. She is based in Harlingen and you can reach her at (956) 430-6252.

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Healthiest metro areas:

1. San Francisco, Calif.

2. Nassau-Suffolk counties, N.Y.

3. San Jose, Calif.

58. McAllen-Mission-Edinburg, Texas

Unhealthiest metro areas:

1. Gary, Ind.

2. Detroit, Mich.

3. Cincinnati, Ohio

Best metro area to have a baby:

1. Boston, Mass.

2. San Francisco, Calif.

3. Nassau-Suffolk counties, N.Y.

Worst metro area to have a baby:

1. McAllen-Mission-Edinburg, Texas

2. Stockton-Lodi, Calif.

3. Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.

Least smoky metro area:

1. Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah

2. San Jose, Calif.

3. McAllen-Mission-Edinburg, Texas

Smokiest metro area:

1. Las Vegas, Nev.

2. Gary, Ind.

3. Dayton, Ohio

Source: SELF magazine (based on the 100 largest U.S. metro areas)