We wish we had better news on the state of the health of the residents in our five-county Times News area, but, according to an annual well-respected national survey, we don't seem to be a very healthy group.

The County Health Rankings, a joint project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in New Jersey and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, recently released its measures of the health of virtually all counties in the United States, and, for the most part, ours do not measure up very well.Northampton County fared best, coming in 15th in overall healthiness among the state's 67 counties. Then came Lehigh, 40th; Monroe, 53rd; Carbon, 54th; and Schuylkill, 64th.The results come from county-level measures and a number of national and state sources. The study groups then standardized the data and used scientifically approved weighted factors so they could compare apples to apples.Among the factors taken into account in measuring each county's healthiness were: overall health outcomes, overall health factors, length of life, quality of life, clinical care, social and economic factors and physical environment.Breaking down the numbers, Carbon and Schuylkill both were down the list on length of life, with Carbon placing 59th among the 67 counties and Schuylkill coming in at 65. Both fared better in the quality of life category, with Schuylkill placing 27th and Carbon, 40th.Schuylkill also placed higher in physical environment, coming in at 41, while Carbon was 53rd. When it came to health behaviors, which measured the number of smokers, the incidence of obesity and the amount of physical activity residents participated in, Carbon was higher, placing 33rd, while Schuylkill was 48th.One of the most startling findings shows that more Americans are dying prematurely, especially younger Americans. Premature death continues to be most prevalent in rural counties and among black, American Indian and Native Alaskan populations. In most recent years, researchers concluded, premature death increased most among those ages 15-44.Not surprisingly, drug overdoses and injury deaths were the main reasons for the spike in premature death. Researchers said that drug overdoses were far and away the single leading cause of premature death in 2015 and contributed to the accelerated rise in premature death from 2014 to 2015.Large suburban metro counties went from having the lowest to the highest rate of premature death due to drug overdoses within the past decade, confirming the concern that there is an opioid epidemic decimating the youth population in our country.Drugs, though, are not the only cause for the significant increase. There have been more deaths because of motor vehicle crashes and firearms fatalities. Speed, texting while driving and recklessness on the highways have been tabbed as the main culprits in this upswing.A staggering 13 percent (one of eight) of youths and young adults, ages 16 to 24, are not in school or not working. If this troubling statistic can be reversed, researchers said in their report, the social and economic vibrancy of local communities could be strengthened dramatically.Chester County in suburban Philadelphia ranked number 1 in the state, while Centre County, home of Pennsylvania State University, came in second. Nearby Pocono counties which did well in the survey were Pike, coming in at number 11 and Wayne, placing 17th. Bucks County was sixth, Berks was 24th, Lackawanna was 57th and Luzerne was 62nd. Philadelphia County came in dead last at 67th.People live longest in Centre County. Montgomery, another suburban Philadelphia county, is number one in quality of life and social and economic factors, and Cameron, the least populous county in the state with about 5,000 residents, came in first in best physical environment.By Bruce Frassinelli |

tneditor@tnonline.com