McAllen area ranks as ‘fattest’ in nation

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

According to an annual women’s health survey published in the December issue of Self magazine, which hit newsstands Tuesday, the region is the worst place in the country for women to have a baby, and is also the fattest region in the U.S.

On the plus side, the region was named the third “least smoky” city, with less than 6 percent of women reporting they smoke daily.

The magazine ranked McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 58th out of 100 cities for its overall health, encompassing numerous factors from disease rates to environmental pollution data.

Neither Brownsville nor Harlingen were ranked in the survey.

The McAllen area is a study in contrasts when it comes to health, said Sara Austin, features director for Self magazine and the article’s author.

“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 prepared 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 is important for a healthy pregnancy, according to the survey.

Obstetrician-gynecologist data came from the American Medical Association, Austin said.

Austin also mentioned a 2006 study that appeared in the journal Preventive Medicine, which suggested that women on the Texas-Mexico border are more familiar with folic acid and its benefits than they once were, but are still unlikely to take it.

Folic acid plays a major role in preventing birth defects. Doctors recommend that women of childbearing age consume 400 micrograms of the nutrient a day.

McAllen 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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

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

He 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, CEO of the Hidalgo County Health Department, saying women 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 American Medical Association and federal agencies.