"Health Status of Northeast Texas: 2016" is the first in a series of reports UT System Population Health is producing that document the health of specific communities within Texas.

The report, which uses detailed mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics, found that the region has extremely high age-adjusted mortality rates for heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and unintentional injury (e.g. car accidents). The rates in Northeast Texas were also higher than the Texas average for kidney disease, suicide, and infant mortality. 

The report looks at a 35 county area that is home to just over 1.5 million people, over half of whom live in a rural area. Every one of the 35 counties has a median household income lower than the Texas average.