08 December 2010

Diabetes prevalence maps


The percentage of adult Americans diagnosed with diabetes has risen steadily for the past 20 years, up to 8 percent of the population in 2008. In some regions of the country, however, the rate is nearly twice that. Since 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released estimates for each county, and mapping that data reveals that there are clusters in states like Alabama and Mississippi, where around one in seven adults is diabetic.
Maps and text from Slate, via Neatorama.

5 comments:

  1. Mel V.December 8, 2010 at 1:42 PM

    Huh. Interesting how it's prevalent in the South. Too much sweet tea, do you think? Or would an obesity map look identical?

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  2. JDJarvisDecember 8, 2010 at 5:54 PM

    It coincides closely with a poverty map.

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  3. SteveDecember 8, 2010 at 7:15 PM

    Yep, poverty.
    I bet some of those isolated rural Western red spots probably correspond with reservations as well.

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  4. MarkDecember 9, 2010 at 12:27 AM

    Actually, it corresponds to being black, not income.

    Here is a black map:

    http://www.census.gov/geo/www/mapGallery/images/black.jpg

    and an income map:

    http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/2007/08/07/united-states-household-income-map/

    and poverty map:

    http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/2007/08/11/united-states-poverty-map/

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  5. MarkDecember 9, 2010 at 12:31 AM

    Sorry, I meant to add, being black or native American:

    http://www.census.gov/geo/www/mapGallery/images/americanindian.jpg
    which explains the dark spots in eastern Arizona, Oklahoma and the Dakotas.

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