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MONDAY, June 18, 2018 (HealthDay News) — The prevalence of obesity is higher among those living in non-metropolitan counties versus metropolitan counties, according to research published in the June 15 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth A. Lundeen, Ph.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues examined state-level 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data to examine the prevalence of obesity in metropolitan versus non-metropolitan counties.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that the prevalence of obesity was 34.2 and 28.7 percent among those living in non-metropolitan and metropolitan counties, respectively (P < 0.001). In all U.S. Census regions, the prevalence of obesity was significantly higher among non-metropolitan versus metropolitan county residents, with the largest absolute difference in the South and Northeast (5.6 and 5.4 percent, respectively). Obesity prevalence was significantly higher among persons in non-metropolitan counties than those in metropolitan counties in 24 of 47 states; only in Wyoming was obesity prevalence higher among metropolitan county residents.<\/p>\n
“Both metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties can address obesity through a variety of policy and environmental strategies to increase access to healthier foods and opportunities for physical activity,” the authors write.<\/p>\n