Survey Finds Most Runny Noses In Little Rock West Palm Beach, Fla., Ranked As The Healthiest City

Feeling a little under the weather?

If you’re from Little Rock, Ark., it’s no surprise. A survey commissioned by Florida citrus growers to promote orange juice finds Little Rock had the worst incidence of the sniffles in 1996, 29 percent above the national average.

Other communities, according to the survey results being released Wednesday, on the top 10 list of “America’s Sickest Cities”: Hartford, Conn.; San Diego; Minneapolis; Greensboro, N.C.; Boston; Cincinnati; Philadelphia; San Jose, Calif.; and Manchester, N.H.

Among the 71 cities in the survey, West Palm Beach, Fla., ranked as the healthiest, with 45.2 percent fewer incidences of colds or flu than the national average.

Closest to the national average were Riverside, Calif., and New York City, showing that no region of the country is immune to the sniffles.

Surveillance Data Inc. ranked the cities according to reports from 1,700 doctors across the country.

The survey - and a companion marketing campaign urging people to drink more orange juice and eat more citrus - was paid for by the Florida Department of Citrus.