Estimated County-Level Prevalence of Diabetes and Obesity – United States, 2007

This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report states the importance of disease surveillance systems for chronic diseases as catalysts for preventive health policies targeted toward high-risk populations.

Top public health priorities such as Type 2 diabetes and obesity require further development of these surveillance systems in order to effectively track geographic, behavioral, environmental, and socioeconomic trends, and to properly implement appropriate interventions.

The report cites estimated rates of diabetes and obesity in the following regions:

• 81% of counties in the Appalachian region that includes Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia
• 77% of counties in the southern region that includes Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina
• Some tribal lands in the West and Northern Plains

This information, modeled from the Behavioral Risk Surveillance System, suggests that interventions targeted specifically towards these areas at the local level will be more effective in influencing behavioral change. As rates of diabetes and obesity continue to rise at staggering levels, interventionists are looking to population-targeted prevention measures such as food legislation and social marketing via data extracted from these surveillance systems and models.