Tuscarawas County presented its community health needs assessment Nov. 21, which found rising rates of obesity and declining mental health were among the county's top concerns among youth and adults.
The report, which was based on a survey of 2,232 residents, including 704 adults and 1,528 youth, found that nearly 25% of adults and youth felt sad or hopeless almost every day for two or more weeks in a row. The report also concluded that 49% of adults were obese, while 40% of youth were obese or overweight.
Healthy TUSC, a coalition of 31 local health and social services professionals, elected officials and citizens, conducts the assessment every three years to determine the health risks facing the community and the necessary steps to address those problems.
These results and the upward trend is a cause for concern, said Jennifer Demuth, Healthy TUSC chairperson. While 8% of adults in the county reported feeling sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in a row in 2021, that figure jumped to 25% in 2024. She said the 2021 figures may have been skewed due to lower response rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Eight percent is still a big difference from the 25% that we found in the 2024 results," Demuth said.
The results are even more concerning when paired with suicide data, she said.
"We know from our survey results that some of these folks do consider attempting suicide," Demuth said. "Our data showed about 9% of the people who responded had considered attempting suicide within the past 12 months. We saw that that number was higher among the LGBTQ+ community and among persons of color and those who earned less than $40,000 annually."
Those numbers rose to 27% for members of the LGBTQ+ community, 25% for communities of color and 17% for those earning under $40,000 per year.
In 2019, 12.2% of adults ages 18-25 contemplated suicide, along with 6.4% of adults ages 26-34, 4.1% of adults ages 35-49, 2.7% of adults ages 50-64 and 1.9% ages 65 and older, according to a study by Pew Charitable Trusts.
Obesity rates are also on the rise as the 2021 survey found 43% of Tuscarawas County adults were obese versus 49% today, Demuth said. By comparison, the national average in 2023 was 40.3%, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, while 36.4% of Ohio residents were reported to be obese in 2023, according to the Trust for America's Health.
"That is a concern because obesity can often lead to other chronic conditions that can really diminish a person's quality of life down the road," Demuth said.
Survey respondents mentioned various challenges over the past year that may have contributed to their physical and mental health issues. For instance, 34% said they had a family member admitted to a hospital for an extended length of time and another 34% said they'd experienced the death of a close friend.
"We know from the 2024 survey results that these conditions that they reported are probably contributing factors toward the poor mental health and potentially even some of the eating habits that could lead to greater obesity," Demuth said.
In addition to obesity and mental health, other concerns facing Tuscarawas County include vaping, Demuth noted.
"We have concerns about the numbers of persons vaping in both youth and adult populations," she said. "Unfortunately, there's not a lot of awareness about the dangers of vaping."
For example, vaping has been linked to lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer in Tuscarawas County, Demuth said.
"Lung cancer is one of the major types of cancer that can be connected to repeated tobacco and nicotine use in any form, be it chewing tobacco or cigarette smoke or vaping," she said. "And so it's definitely something we always take into consideration as we work on our improvements going forward."
Demuth is also concerned residents do not realize that, beyond being addictive, vapes contain harmful chemicals.
"They don't realize that some of the chemicals in vapes often include formaldehyde and stuff that you would use in a car battery," she said.
Looking ahead, Healthy TUSC will review the survey results and the community feedback received to choose health improvement priorities and develop goals and plans for those areas, Demuth said. The plan will be developed from February through April 2025 with the intent to enact the plan in August 2025.
