PORTLAND — MaineHealth released its fifth annual Health Index Report, a resource for community health data in Maine. In it, the organization said Sagadahoc County is the state’s healthiest county. Knox County ranked sixth, while Waldo County is 12th.

“The findings included in the County Health Rankings are consistent with the data we track on a more local level,” said Deborah Deatrick, senior vice president for community health at MaineHealth, in a news release.

Click here to read the report in entirety.

There are 16 counties in Maine. The least healthiest, according to the report, is Somerset. Oxford County had the most improved health outcomes, moving from 10th to seventh healthiest in the state, the report said.

The report tracked progress on seven high-priority issues that have a major affect on Maine’s overall health status: Childhood immunizations, tobacco use, obesity, preventable hospitalizations, cardiovascular deaths, cancer deaths, and prescription drug abuse and addiction.

The report describes how the MaineHealth system and its partners are addressing each of the high priority issues through clinical, community and policy strategies.

The Health Index Report is released in concert with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings, an annual snapshot comparing the overall health of nearly every county in the nation.

Used as a benchmark for MaineHealth’s Health Index Report, the Rankings compare counties on 30 factors that influence health including education, housing, violent crime, jobs, diet, and exercise.

Some of the key findings from this year’s Health Index Report include:

 Up-to-date immunization rates at MaineHealth practices increased from 77 percent in 2012 to 80 percent in 2014

 Maine’s youth smoking rate was 13 percent in 2013 versus the 2011 rate of 15.5 percent.  In 1997, Maine’s rate (39 percent) was one of the highest in the country.

 The majority (58 percent) of Maine’s adult smokers have made a serious attempt to quit in the past 12 months

 78 percent of Maine fifth graders drank zero sugary beverages per day in 2013, an increase of 9 percent since 2009

 In 2010-2012, Maine’s rates for overall cardiovascular death, as well as rates for heart disease, coronary heart disease and heart attack, were significantly lower than the U.S. rates.

MaineHealth is a nonprofit family of providers and other healthcare organizations that include Maine Medical Center, Franklin Community Health Network, Lincoln County Health Care, Maine Behavioral Healthcare, Memorial Hospital, Pen Bay Healthcare, Southern Maine Health Care, Waldo County Healthcare, Western Maine Health, HomeHealth Visiting Nurses, Maine Physician Hospital Organization, NorDx and Synernet. Affiliates of MaineHealth include MaineGeneral Health, Mid Coast Health Services, New England Rehabilitation Hospital of Portland and St. Mary's Health System.