Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
General Health Indicators
General health indicators provide a picture of the overall health status of the population. Selfrated
health and mortality are important indicators that reflect population health and wellness and
can be compared across time and regions to understand how the health of one population
compares with the health of others.
Self-rated health is one of the strongest and most consistent predictors of illness, premature death,
health care utilization, and hospitalization (Idler and Benyamini, 1997). In 2008, 16.9 percent of
the population in the northwest health region rated their health as fair or poor (NMDH, 2008a);
this is very similar to the State of New Mexico at 17.9 percent.
Leading causes of death for Cibola and McKinley Counties are listed in table 76. The leading
causes of death for Cibola and McKinley Counties are heart disease, cancer, and unintentional
injury. These leading causes have remained the same over the past decade and are similar across
the nation. Because confidence intervals are not available for these estimates, it is not possible to
determine whether rates are significantly different between the various regions. All of these
diseases are further discussed in the following sections.
Chronic Disease
Chronic diseases are illnesses that have a long duration and slow progression, such as cancer,
heart disease, and diabetes. They are generally multifactorial; that is, they are not caused by any
one factor, but rather by a combination of biological, environmental, and personal influences.
Chronic diseases are now are the leading cause of ill health and death across the U.S. and
internationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that chronic
diseases account for 70 percent of all deaths in the U.S. (USCDC, 2011).
Cancer
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Cibola and McKinley Counties. Cancer is a
concern of community members in the ROI (USFS, 2011b), and has been shown to be associated
with uranium mining activities (ATSDR, 2008, 2011). In order to assess potential impacts from
the proposed action, it is important to understand current cancer rates as well as trends over time.
Table 76. Leading and selected causes of death, rates per 10,000 population by region,
2007-2009
Cibola County McKinley County New Mexico
All-cause mortality 101.9 121.0 93.0
Heart disease 12.2 21.2 20.4
Cancer 14.8 17.6 16.6
Unintentional injury 7.2 10.6 6.9
Chronic lower respiratory disease 3.1 5.4 5.5
Cerebrovascular disease (stroke) 1.6 6.7 4.6
Diabetes* 5.8 7.9 3.3
382 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest