A troubling pattern This study wasn't the first to give low marks to Hampton Roads' health. Two years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that Norfolk was among the 10 U.S. cities with populations over 100,000 with the highest rates of gonorrhea and syphilis, even though infection rates for sexually transmitted diseases had been dropping overall. New HIV and AIDS cases increased in Hampton Roads between 1999 and 2000, even though infection rates and diagnoses of AIDS fell elsewhere across the state. Hampton Roads has 15 percent of the state's population but is home to 21 percent of its patients on kidney dialysis. Medical officials offer no simple explanation for the region's health problems.
Many doctors cite the large military presence, which makes the population more transient.
Others note the large number of poor people here. In Norfolk and Portsmouth, about one in four people live in poverty, according to the community report. Many health officials interviewed for this article cited the region's racially diverse population. Historically, diseases have hit minorities the hardest. But that answer doesn't satisfy Dr. Keith Newby, a cardiologist and president of the Norfolk Medical Society, a predominantly African-American organization.