Birth rates among teens are down, but cases of sexually transmitted infections and child abuse are on the rise in Yolo County.
These findings were unveiled during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting as part of a Health Council Annual Report presented by Dr. Michael Wilkes.
Wilkes went over topics including instances of violence, oral health and climate change, although he referred to the drop in local teenagers giving birth as the county’s “shining star.”
“In the decade from 2007 to 2017, we’ve seen a drop in teenage births and there are lots of reasons for this,” he said. “Some of them medical, some public health and some social, but they all collectively paint a really positive picture that shows our teens are getting pregnant at rates lower than they have in the past. There are big differences between cities and ethnicity. Hispanic women still have the highest rates in the county.”
On a more troubling note — chlamydia, gonorrhea and early syphilis infections are all on the rise.
“Perhaps nothing is as worrisome as syphilis rates,” Wilkes said. “In 2007 we had almost no cases and we now have a large number of cases.”
A statistical graph in his presentation suggested that cases have steadily increased from none in 2007 to almost 70 in 2018.
He said this trend is at least partially because of a drug combination that is used to prevent HIV, but the “message isn’t being communicated accurately to people that it protects against HIV, but not any of these other infections and diseases.”
Confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect in Yolo County between birth and age 5 reached a 10-year high in 2017 with 282, according to the report.
In reviewing domestic violence in terms of calls for assistance from 2008 to 2017 by city, the report found that West Sacramento typically receives the most calls followed by Winters.
Wilkes also addressed alcohol and drug use among 11th graders from throughout the county in the last 30 days based on data collected between 2015 and 2017. It was found that Woodland Joint Unified topped the list of local districts at 43 percent. School districts in Davis, Esparto and Winters also surpassed the state average of 29 percent usage with only West Sacramento’s Washington Unified coming in below average.
He also spoke about 11th graders who have thought seriously about suicide in the last 30 days. Davis Joint Unified School District was the only Yolo County school district that came in above the state average of 16 percent at 20 percent.
“In most schools one third of kids have used drugs or alcohol in the past 30 days,” Wilkes said. “If we couple that with those who’ve seriously considered suicide, I’m averaging here, but about 15 percent of kids think about suicide. And that is developmental, but it’s also worrisome. We need to make sure we have the resources to attend to this and that we focus on wellness and resiliency.”
Another parallel was drawn between life expectancy in the Industrial Boulevard neighborhood of West Sacramento where it’s 69.2 years as opposed to Davis’ Covell Park area where people are expected to survive 85.8 years. Determining factors listed include poverty levels, education, access to parks and green space and median personal earnings.
“These are all Yolo County citizens, but things are very different for them when we look at this from a health prospective,” Wilkes said, adding later that “we need clinics and better education, but we also need to look more broadly at the environments that we’ve created for people to live in.”
He presented a pyramid of things that can be done to influence health. From least to most effective, it listed: behavioral interventions (physical activity, use of condoms), clinical interventions (taking prescription medication for things like high blood pressure), long-lasted protective interventions (immunizations and getting a colonoscopy), changing the context (smoke free laws, calorie labeling) and socioeconomic factors (poverty, education, housing).
