PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS — The number of people self reporting good health and life expectancy are above average in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and south Crown Heights, a new citywide health survey shows, despite troubling rates of obesity and hospitalizations in the area.
Eighty-four percent of people in the neighborhood rated their own health as “excellent,” “very good” or “good,” well above the 75 percent of people who said the same in Brooklyn overall, according to health profiles of 18 borough neighborhoods released this week by the New York City Department of Health.
The health survey aims to show a snapshot of the overall health of a neighborhood in terms of dozens of categories, including rates of disease diagnoses, child asthma, causes of death and housing quality.
Each profile correspond to an area’s community board. In Brooklyn Community Board 9 — which includes Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, south Crown Heights and the area surrounding Kings County Hospital — life expectancy is 80 years, slightly above the Brooklyn average of 79.9 years.
But while the survey shows that many residents report feeling healthy and are living relatively long lives, the statistics highlight several unhealthy trends in the neighborhood.
For example, 30 percent of adults in the area are obese, higher than Brooklyn (27 percent) and New York City averages (24 percent), according to the most recent available data from the DOH.
Rates of hospitalization were also high in the neighborhood in several categories.
More than 1,000 residents out of 100,000 were sent to the hospital for mental health issues every year, the DOH said, the sixth worst rate in the entire city.
Additionally, 404 residents out of 100,000 are hospitalized for stroke in the area every year, more than 26 percent higher than the city’s average rate of 319 out of 100,000.
The complete report, as well as profiles of all 18 neighborhoods in Brooklyn, is available through the health department’s website.
