CDC: Diabetes, Obesity Highest in South

ATLANTA—Wide sections of the Southeast, Appalachia, and some tribal lands in the West and Northern Plains have the nation′s highest rates of obesity and diabetes, according to estimates released Nov. 19 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In many counties in those regions, rates of diagnosed diabetes exceed 10 percent and obesity prevalence is more than 30 percent.

The estimates are the first to provide county–level snapshots of obesity across the United States. They also update diabetes county–level estimates released in 2008.

Eighty–one percent of counties in the Appalachian region that includes Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia have high rates of diabetes and obesity. So do three–quarters of counties in the southern region that includes Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina.

“Diabetes is costly in human and economic terms, and it′s urgent that we take action to prevent and control this serious disease,” said Dr. Ann Albright, director of CDC′s Division of Diabetes Translation. “The study shows strong regional patterns of diabetes and can help focus prevention efforts where they are most needed.”