Long Island Health, Hospital & Chronic Disease Statistics

Long Island is often viewed as one of the stronger health-outcome regions in New York State, supported by major hospital systems, comparatively high life expectancy, and broad access to specialty care. Even so, chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, cancer, depression, and substance-use disorders still affect many residents and remain major drivers of hospital and emergency department use.

This page provides a practical snapshot of chronic disease patterns and hospital activity across Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Most figures come from the New York State Department of Health, CDC PLACES, BRFSS-based estimates, SPARCS hospital-use data, county health assessments, and regional health-collaborative reports. Because these sources are updated on different schedules, the information below should be read as a recent multi-source overview rather than a single-year census.

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Table of Contents

1. Chronic Disease Snapshot
   1. Metabolic & Cardiac Conditions
   2. Respiratory, Cancer & Behavioral Health
   3. How to Read the Data
2. Hospital Statistics & Healthcare Infrastructure
3. What This Means for Long Islanders
4. Sources & Notes

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1. Chronic Disease Snapshot

Selected chronic-disease prevalence, mortality, and hospitalization indicators
(using the most recent public county-level sources commonly available, generally from late-2010s through mid-2020s releases)

Category	Condition	Nassau County	Suffolk County	Notes
Metabolic & Weight-related	Obesity (adult BMI ≥ 30)	About 27% of adults in recent modeled estimates	About 30% of adults in recent modeled estimates	County estimates commonly place Nassau slightly below Suffolk
	Overweight or Obese (combined)	Roughly 60% in older regional survey summaries	Roughly low-to-mid 60% in older regional survey summaries	Older combined estimates are still cited locally, but newer public summaries more often highlight obesity alone
	Diabetes (diagnosed)	About 7% to 8% of adults	About 9% to 10% of adults	Modeled estimates generally show Nassau below Suffolk
	Prediabetes	Elevated risk is reflected in public-health models	Elevated risk is reflected in public-health models	Not always presented as one simple countywide headline figure
Cardiovascular	Heart disease mortality	One of the two leading causes of death	One of the two leading causes of death	Age-adjusted rates vary by community, race/ethnicity, and release year
	Coronary heart disease hospitalizations	Tracked in NYSDOH indicator tables	Tracked in NYSDOH indicator tables	Burden tends to rise with age and other chronic risk factors
	Hypertension	Common adult chronic condition in CDC PLACES estimates	Common adult chronic condition in CDC PLACES estimates	Neighborhood variation can be substantial even within the same county
Respiratory	Asthma (all ages hospitalization rate)	Roughly 8 per 10,000 in recent state indicators	Roughly 6 per 10,000 in recent state indicators	Comparisons are usually based on multi-year averages rather than one-year spikes
	Asthma (ages 0–4 hospitalization rate)	Low-30s per 10,000 in recent indicators	Mid-to-high 30s per 10,000 in recent indicators	Childhood asthma hospitalization rates remain well above adult rates
	COPD hospitalizations	Reported in state and county indicator sets	Reported in state and county indicator sets	Often discussed in the broader context of chronic respiratory disease and older-adult health
Cancer	Overall cancer burden	Cancer is a leading cause of death	Cancer is a leading cause of death	NYSDOH tracks site-specific incidence and mortality for breast, colorectal, lung, prostate, and other cancers
	Colorectal cancer	Screening and early detection remain key issues	Screening and early detection remain key issues	Published incidence rates vary by age, sex, community, and release year
Mental & Behavioral Health	Depression (ever diagnosed)	About 14% of adults	About 16% of adults	Usually based on modeled survey estimates rather than direct annual case counts
	Opioid-related overdose deaths	Ongoing public-health concern; annual totals fluctuate	Ongoing public-health concern; several recent years have shown heavier burden than Nassau	Check the latest state and county dashboards for the current year because trends can change quickly
Infectious Chronic Conditions	HIV prevalence	Tracked in NYSDOH surveillance dashboards	Tracked in NYSDOH surveillance dashboards	Use current state reports rather than older snapshots, as county totals and rates change over time
Other Chronic Conditions	Arthritis	Common in adult and older populations	Common in adult and older populations	Widely present but not always highlighted in short county summaries
	Chronic kidney disease (CKD)	Limited headline county summaries	Limited headline county summaries	Burden is more often inferred from hospitalization, dialysis, and Medicare-related data
	Alzheimer’s / Dementia	Growing concern with an aging population	Growing concern with an aging population	Public-facing county summaries are usually broader than one simple annual count

How to read this table: county health data does not all come from one source or one year. Some rows are based on modeled survey estimates, some on hospitalization rates, and some on mortality surveillance. Countywide numbers are useful for a broad overview, but they can mask major local differences between neighborhoods and school districts.

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2. Hospital Statistics & Healthcare Infrastructure

Long Island has one of the largest and most complex healthcare networks in the Northeast, serving nearly 3 million residents in Nassau and Suffolk alone. The region includes major academic and tertiary-care centers, community hospitals, outpatient campuses, urgent care sites, federally qualified health centers, and specialty practices. For residents, new arrivals, and extended-stay visitors, the key takeaway is that care access is broad, but service lines, insurance participation, and campus capabilities vary significantly by provider.

Hospital / System Snapshot	Long Island Overview	Why It Matters
Population served	Nearly 3 million residents across Nassau and Suffolk Counties	Demand is spread across dense suburbs, central corridors, and more seasonal East End communities
Recent inpatient activity	Roughly 390,000 combined hospital discharges in a typical recent reporting year	Discharge totals can shift with outpatient trends, public-health events, and reporting methods
Recent emergency department activity	Close to 1 million combined ER visits in a typical recent reporting year	Emergency use remains high even as telehealth, urgent care, and outpatient access expand
Major regional hospitals and medical centers	Examples include Stony Brook University Hospital, North Shore University Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island, South Shore University Hospital, and Good Samaritan University Hospital	Hospital names, affiliations, and specialty offerings can change, so always verify current services directly
Common specialty strengths	Cardiac care, cancer care, stroke services, orthopedics, neurosciences, maternity, pediatrics, and behavioral health	Not every campus provides every service, and some programs are concentrated at flagship hospitals
Access trends	Growing telehealth, outpatient surgery, imaging, and urgent-care options	Convenience has improved, but hours, accepted insurance, and referral rules still vary widely

Large regional systems and independent providers continue to shape the local healthcare landscape. National rankings and specialty recognitions can be helpful, but they change year to year. For practical trip-planning or relocation research, the most useful steps are to confirm the current emergency department, trauma, maternity, pediatric, surgical, and behavioral-health services at the specific hospital you may use.

Highlights include:

• Multiple hospitals that are regularly recognized in national or regional rankings
• Broad coverage of emergency care, urgent care, outpatient surgery, and specialty medicine across both counties
• Major programs in oncology, cardiovascular care, women’s health, neurosciences, and rehabilitation
• Expanded use of telehealth, digital scheduling, and remote monitoring in many systems
• Ongoing community-health outreach, screening, care coordination, and chronic-disease prevention efforts

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3. What This Means for Long Islanders

Even in a relatively well-resourced region like Long Island, chronic disease remains a central public-health challenge. The broad pattern is consistent across major data sources:

• Obesity and diabetes continue to drive long-term disease burden and downstream healthcare use
• Heart disease and cancer remain the dominant causes of death across both counties
• Asthma and other respiratory conditions still matter, especially for children and higher-risk communities
• Mental health and substance-use disorders remain significant parts of the regional healthcare picture
• Access to prevention, primary care, and early screening remains essential even in areas with strong hospital coverage

As Long Island’s population continues to age and migration trends shift, prevention, chronic disease management, and access to coordinated care will remain major issues for households, employers, schools, and local governments.

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4. Sources & Notes

• New York State Department of Health Community Health Assessment / indicator resources
• New York State Department of Health SPARCS hospital-use data
• CDC PLACES
• CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
• Nassau County Department of Health
• Suffolk County Department of Health Services
• Long Island Health Collaborative
• Community health needs assessments and population-health summaries published by major Long Island hospital systems

Notes: Statistics on this page combine multiple public data sources and release years. Hospital names, affiliations, rankings, and service offerings can change. If you need the latest confirmed numbers, ZIP-code-level detail, or current service availability, check the underlying agency or hospital directly before relying on a figure.

This page is for general informational use only and is not medical advice. In an emergency, call 911 or seek immediate care from a licensed medical provider.