County health rankings mixed - DailyBulletin.com

"Los Angeles County residents are less likely to die of lung cancer, suicide or car crashes than residents of most other California counties - but more likely to die from heart disease and diabetes, according to a state health report released Thursday.

The annual report compiled by the state Department of Public Health and the California Conference of Local Health Officers, offers a mixed picture of Los Angeles County's health between 2005 to 2007.

The county ranked among the 10 best in prenatal care, preventing death from lung cancer and fewest fatal car accidents per person. Some health experts attributed those results to public policy decisions like public smoking bans and better compliance with seat-belt and child-seat laws.

But the county ranked 48 out of 58 in deaths from heart disease and 46 in diabetes.

And when it came to sexually transmitted diseases, Los Angeles residents still are contracting chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV at a higher level than those in other counties."