Older Hoosiers are among the least healthy seniors in the country, according to a report released today.

Indiana is 40th in the nation in America’s Health Rankings Senior Report issued by United Health Foundation. The state ranked 37th last year.

Among Americans older than 65, Indiana residents posted a higher prevalence of obesity (48th in the nation), physical inactivity (45th) and premature death (42nd).

Older Hoosiers also are less likely to manage their diabetes, undergo health screenings and receive flu vaccinations, according to the report, and they have a higher rate of preventable hospitalizations.

Dr. Deborah McMahan, commissioner of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health, said Tuesday the findings show the importance of regular exercise for people of all ages.

"You’ve got to move, people. Move it or lose it," she said in a telephone interview.

Local parks, walking trails and YMCA facilities provide plenty of ways for Allen County residents to become more physically active, she said.

"I just think there are opportunities here that we’re not taking advantage of. And the consequence of that is early death," McMahan said.

United Health Foundation reports that 33.1 percent of seniors nationwide who are in fair or better health do not get enough physical activity, a 15 percent increase from last year. In Indiana, the figure was 39.2 percent, a 19 percent leap from a year ago.

Physical inactivity has been shown to raise the risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

"We should really frame that to be the new smoking," Dr. Rhonda Randall, senior adviser to United Health Foundation, said in a telephone interview. "We should think it as nasty to sit on the couch all day long as we do smoking a pack of cigarettes a day."

United Health Foundation is a nonprofit foundation that says it has committed more than $240 million to health programs and communities worldwide since it was established in 1999 by UnitedHealth Group, a health insurance company.

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies, the foundation assigned values to states in various health, health care, poverty and community-support categories, then ranked the states.

Vermont leads the U.S. for over-65 healthiness, followed by New Hampshire and Minnesota. Most of the healthiest states for seniors are in the Northeast and the West.

Louisiana’s seniors rank 50th. Seven of the nine least-healthy states are in the Southeast, a region with higher rates of poverty and food insecurity, less access to home health care and fewer seniors who earned college degrees.

Among Indiana’s neighbors, Michigan ranked 17th, Ohio 30th, Illinois 37th and Kentucky 48th.

McMahan praised the report for linking behaviors to health outcomes. For instance, she noted it shows that Indiana seniors lag the national average for dentist visits and exceed the average for tooth extractions.

On the bright side, Indiana seniors fared better than those in most states for chronic consumption of alcohol (12th lowest nationally) and food insecurity (13th lowest).

The report points out that a continuing surge in the over-65 population will test health care providers and federal programs that provide health insurance and retirement benefits to seniors.

"As individuals, as communities, as taxpayers, we are going to see tremendous costs associated with us being unnecessarily sick at too young of an age," said Randall, chief medical officer for UnitedHealthcare Retiree Solutions.

She said nearly 40 percent of seniors suffer two or more chronic conditions, and many people developed those conditions before or just after turning 65.

"That means that we’re going to spend more of our golden years in the health care system and in doctors’ offices and in hospitals taking care of those chronic diseases," she said, "when we really want to spend them enjoying those years, spending time with our grandchildren, volunteering in our community, traveling or whatever else it is we all look forward to."

bfrancisco@jg.net