A national publisher that ranks the health of states lists Iowa in fourth place for the second year in a row. Iowa has ranked in the top five of the Morgan Quinto Press rankings in each of the last five years — with a high of third place in 2002. Iowa Department of Public Health spokesman Kevin Teale says the ranking is just one gauge of how the state is doing. He says over the course of the year there are several different firms that do health rankings. He says this one looks at a variety factors, including the uninsured rate, which Iowa fairs well in. He says there are areas where the state needs to improve — most notably the obesity rate. New Hampshire led the rankings this year, but Teale says moving into the top spot isn’t easy to do. He says because the firm looks at a variety of factors, moving up isn’t easy to do. He says what they look at is consistency, and he says in this particular survey, Iowa has ranked high. Mississippi ranked last, and several other southern states also were near the bottom. Teale says geography plays a factor.He says we don’t have a lot of heavy industry or traffic congestion that leads to air pollution that causes health problems. He says the southern states also don’t have as good access to health care as we have in Iowa. Vermont and Hawaii were in the second and third spots above Iowa — and Minnesota was right behind in fifth place. More information about the rankings is available at www.statestats.com