Oklahoma falls in health ranking, but infant health improves

(Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma’s overall health ranking fell among U.S. states in 2018, though the state did see an uptick in infant health.
The Oklahoman reports that the state ranked 47th in overall health in 2018, down from 43rd in 2017, in the America’s Health Rankings annual report . The data showed that Oklahoma residents continued to do worse than other states on measures of health outcomes and behavior.
However, fewer infants were born too small or died before reaching their first birthday in the last year. Oklahoma moved up from 47th in 2017 to 43rd in 2018 for infant deaths.
Joyce Marshall is the director of maternal and child services at the Oklahoma State Department of Health. She says some risk factors are down, such as teen pregnancies and smoking while pregnant.