New Kentucky website provides data, maps and charts on how the environment affects human health, county by county

The state Department for Public Health has launched a new resource for tracking a variety of topics that affect health in Kentucky.

The website Healthtracking.ky.gov not only includes information and data about how the environment affects human health in a number of ways, but also presents data in map, chart or table formats for subcategories in each topic area.

For example, under the category of heart disease and stroke, the site also provides information about the age-adjusted rate of hospitalization for heart attacks in each county, the crude rate of hospitalizations for heart attack in each county, and the number of hospitalizations for heart attack in each county.

Other topics include: air quality, asthma, birth defects, cancer, childhood lead poisoning, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), carbon-monoxide poisoning, climate and weather, drinking water, heat-related illness, radon (a naturally occuring, cancer-causing gas) and reproductive and birth outcomes.

Data on the new site comes from several counrse, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Kentucky Cancer Registry, state and local Health Departments and many others. Data can be examined at a state or county level.

The site also offers online maps with information about local health departments, prescription assistance, social vulnerability, and community vulnerability to Covid-19. It is managed by the health department’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Program.