The Diabetes Belt
Researchers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have just published an article identifying the diabetes belt: 644 counties in 15 mostly-southern states that have estimated adult diabetes rates greater than 11%. The counties are in close proximity, most touch another such county, and form a coherent unit when mapped.
The study, to be published in the April 2011 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has been made available in a pre-publication version. (At the time of this writing, the article is openly accessible on the publisher's web site.)
The researchers took data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) surveys from 2007 and 2008, combined it with estimates of diagnosed diabetes among adults, and have compiled it into a group of maps that can be viewed at CDC's Diabetes Data and Trends web site.
Users can choose among three indicators: Diagnosed Diabetes, Obesity, and Physical Activity and select the year of interest and the type of data. Even staying within a single indicator, changing the other parameters will alter the map display.Switching from percentages to numbers of adults, one sees a switch from those counties with small populations and lots of diabetics, to the urban centers in each state. Users can also drill down to a specific state using the drop-down menu and see the map and estimated values for each county.
As you might guess from the maps, Colorado has the lowest obesity rate of any state, and its residents engage in regular physical activity, both appear to have positive effects on preventing diabetes.
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