Insights \ Health Hits

Every few months a magazine, newspaper or organizations will rank the most dangerous or unhealthy places to live. The criteria for such rankings vary from the number of city parks to the number of murders per capita.

Last week, for example, the Wall Street Journal ranked the most dangerous cities to live in based on crime statistics. If crime doesn't scare you, the American Lung Association bets the air quality in some cities might; every year the association ranks cities by particulate and ozone pollution.

At least one magazine has ranked cities by their obesity rate. Here's another measure to add to the list: The density of primary care physicians.

While that criteria may sound strange, the concentration of doctors in area can make a difference in health care especially if your 65 or older, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Seniors who live in areas with fewer doctors tend to be hospitalized more than seniors who live in areas with more primary physicians. In locations with the highest rate of primary care doctors working full time in outpatient clinical settings, people 65 and older had death rates 5 percent lower than in areas with fewer primary care doctors.