Cholesterol screening and Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees
Across 2,911 counties, Cholesterol screening and Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees have a link of +0.52, on a scale from −1 (opposite) to +1 (in step). But compare places with the same population density, income and education, and what is left could easily be chance. Most of the first figure came from both measures following how urban, rich and educated a place is, not from a link with each other.
Mostly gone after adjusting
Every place, plotted
One dot for each place reporting both measures. Hover over or tap a dot to see its name and values. The thin line is the straight line that best fits the dots. The bold line, shown for counties, is the link after adjusting for density, income and education. A dot far from the lines is a place that does not follow the pattern.
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What each measure is
Cholesterol screening
The estimated percentage of adults who have been screened for cholesterol. It is adjusted so places with older or younger populations can be compared fairly. It is an estimate from a statistical model, not a direct count from a local survey.
CDC PLACES · PLACES CHOLSCREEN, age-adjusted
Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees
The percentage of people on Medicare who got a flu shot.
County Health Rankings · County Health Rankings v155
Highest and lowest
Where each measure is highest and lowest among the places reporting both (2023), with the other measure beside it. This is shown for every size of place where both are published. Metro-area values are added up from their counties. A measure that cannot be added up across counties, such as a middle value (median), has no metro figure. Counts are shown per 1,000 residents, since raw totals would only list the largest places. Cities and towns and ZIP codes are shown where the Census survey or the CDC publishes them; most other sources stop at the county. They are shown for places of 5,000 residents or more, and only where the survey’s margin of error is small enough for the figure to be usable. The CDC publishes its health estimates for cities in a version adjusted for age, so places with older or younger people can be compared fairly, but not for ZIP codes.
Counties
By cholesterol screening
| Cholesterol screening | Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Howard County, MD | 90.4% | 0.6% |
| District of Columbia, DC | 90.2% | 0.43% |
| Middlesex County, MA | 90% | 0.61% |
| Nantucket County, MA | 90% | 0.21% |
| Norfolk County, MA | 90% | 0.61% |
| Lowest | ||
| Kusilvak Census Area, AK | 70.4% | 0.03% |
| Bethel Census Area, AK | 71.7% | 0.03% |
| Nome Census Area, AK | 74.1% | 0.03% |
| Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, AK | 74.2% | 0.25% |
| Dillingham Census Area, AK | 74.5% | 0.21% |
By flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees
| Cholesterol screening | Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Story County, IA | 83.2% | 0.69% |
| Dane County, WI | 85.5% | 0.69% |
| Douglas County, KS | 83.7% | 0.66% |
| Carroll County, IA | 82.3% | 0.65% |
| Johnson County, IA | 84% | 0.65% |
| Lowest | ||
| Nome Census Area, AK | 74.1% | 0.03% |
| Kusilvak Census Area, AK | 70.4% | 0.03% |
| Bethel Census Area, AK | 71.7% | 0.03% |
| Greeley County, KS | 83.4% | 0.03% |
| Rock County, NE | 81.7% | 0.04% |
States — Cholesterol screening is not published for states
By flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees
| Cholesterol screening | Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Massachusetts | — | 0.58% |
| Delaware | — | 0.56% |
| Pennsylvania | — | 0.55% |
| Connecticut | — | 0.55% |
| Iowa | — | 0.54% |
| Lowest | ||
| Alaska | — | 0.32% |
| Nevada | — | 0.38% |
| Wyoming | — | 0.4% |
| New Mexico | — | 0.4% |
| Idaho | — | 0.4% |
Metro areas
By cholesterol screening
| Cholesterol screening | Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Nantucket, MA | 90% | 0.21% |
| Barnstable Town, MA | 89.2% | 0.59% |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 89% | 0.581% |
| Amherst Town-Northampton, MA | 88.8% | 0.62% |
| Vineyard Haven, MA | 88.7% | 0.36% |
| Lowest | ||
| Gallup, NM | 75.8% | 0.41% |
| Vernal, UT | 77.3% | 0.37% |
| Othello, WA | 77.5% | 0.27% |
| Hilo-Kailua, HI | 77.6% | 0.4% |
| Deming, NM | 77.6% | 0.24% |
By flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees
| Cholesterol screening | Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Ames, IA | 83.1% | 0.673% |
| Madison, WI | 85.2% | 0.663% |
| Lawrence, KS | 83.7% | 0.66% |
| Carroll, IA | 82.3% | 0.65% |
| Iowa City, IA | 83.8% | 0.631% |
| Lowest | ||
| Winnemucca, NV | 82.1% | 0.15% |
| Safford, AZ | 80.4% | 0.19% |
| Andrews, TX | 82.5% | 0.2% |
| Nantucket, MA | 90% | 0.21% |
| Hobbs, NM | 79.4% | 0.22% |
Cities and towns — Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees is not published for cities and towns
By cholesterol screening
| Cholesterol screening | Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Fulton CDP, MD | 91.9% | — |
| Lexington CDP, MA | 91.8% | — |
| Brock Hall CDP, MD | 91.6% | — |
| Fairwood CDP, MD | 91.6% | — |
| Lake Arbor CDP, MD | 91.6% | — |
| Lowest | ||
| Binghamton University CDP, NY | 68% | — |
| Clemson University CDP, SC | 74.8% | — |
| Anthony city, NM | 75.2% | — |
| Jerome city, ID | 75.2% | — |
| Makaha CDP, HI | 75.2% | — |
Counties furthest from the pattern
Compared with the straight line that best fits all 2,930 counties: the five with far more flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees than their cholesterol screening would suggest, and the five with far less.
| Cholesterol screening | Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees | |
|---|---|---|
| Above the line | ||
| Story County, IA | 83.2% | 0.69% |
| Dodge County, NE | 80.6% | 0.62% |
| Carroll County, IA | 82.3% | 0.65% |
| Nobles County, MN | 79.9% | 0.59% |
| Montgomery County, IA | 81.2% | 0.61% |
| Below the line | ||
| Hinsdale County, CO | 86% | 0.09% |
| Greeley County, KS | 83.4% | 0.03% |
| Nantucket County, MA | 90% | 0.21% |
| Borden County, TX | 84.7% | 0.09% |
| Rock County, NE | 81.7% | 0.04% |
Two series, one county
Both measures over time for a county you pick. The two charts are stacked, so they share only the years along the bottom. You can pick from the thirty largest counties reporting both. This panel covers 2010–2024, and a measure published only once shows as a single dot.
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Every version of the link
Each row measures the same link, from −1 to +1, in a different way. If the rows mostly agree, the link does not depend on one choice of method.
| Before adjusting for anything | +0.517 | 2,911 counties reporting both |
| After adjusting for density, income and education | +0.078 | the part of the link that is not just how urban, rich and educated a place is |
| Also adjusting for population size | +0.064 | size taken out as well as density |
| Also comparing only within each state | +0.121 | each county is compared only with others in its own state, so this is no longer a comparison between states |
| Giving bigger counties more weight | +0.192 | the adjusted link for the average resident rather than the average county. With this weighting, the data counts for about 259 equally weighted counties |
| Middle value inside single states | +0.574 | the link worked out inside each of 37 states with at least 20 counties reporting |
| Using ranks, after adjusting | +0.054 | uses each county’s rank, not its value, so a few extreme counties cannot create the link |
How much to believe it
Could it be chance?
The p-value is the chance of seeing a link this strong if there were really none. A value of 0.05 or less means the link is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 3.1e-16 means 0.00000000000000031, and the bigger the number after “e-”, the smaller the value. Treating every county as a separate case gives p = 2.4e-5. But counties in the same state tend to resemble each other, so the better figure allows for that: p = 0.140. The site tested 20,910 pairs, and testing so many turns up some flukes. The q-value allows for that too. For this pair it is 4.1e-5.
Do nearby places look alike?
Moran’s I measures how much nearby places look alike: 0 means no map pattern, and higher means neighbours are more similar. For the part of each county that the adjustment leaves unexplained, it is +0.30 (p = 0.001). That unexplained part still clusters on the map. So some regional factor shared by both measures is not accounted for.
Did they change together?
The figures above compare counties at one moment. This asks a different question: where cholesterol screening rose most, did flu vaccination among medicare enrolleesmove too? Each county’s change is compared with the average change in its own state. That takes out ups and downs that hit a whole region at once. Each change is the gap between two estimates that both contain some error. That error pulls these links towards zero, so a weak one is weak partly for that reason. The q column shows whether a link could be a fluke, allowing for the many pairs tested: 0.05 or less means it is unlikely to be chance.
| Period | Counties | Change together | Within states | q |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–2019 the main test: each Census survey figure averages five years, and these two do not overlap; before the pandemic | — | — | — | — |
| 2019–2023 a repeat check: its two five-year survey figures both include 2019, and it covers the COVID years | 2,907 | +0.03 | +0.01 | 0.828 |
Measured over the nearest years published: Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees: 2019–2022 for the 2019–2023 row.
Not measurable over the main period, so only the second period is shown. How change is measured.
Related pairs
- Cholesterol screening and Suicide rate — -0.30
- Cholesterol screening and Local income tax as a share of income — +0.30
- Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees and Safety score — +0.23
- Motor vehicle crash deaths and Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees — -0.22
- Colorectal cancer screening and Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees — +0.22
- Cholesterol screening and Firearm suicide rate — -0.15
- Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees and Injury deaths — -0.14
- Share of some other race, not Hispanic and Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees — -0.10
Association only. Nothing here shows that either measure changes the other. This describes counties, not the people in them. Two measures going together across places does not mean the same people have both. How the US county data works · Explore Cholesterol screening and Flu vaccination among Medicare enrollees