Locals inactive; Southerners rank high in diabetes

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Southerners and those who live in Appalachia are the least likely to be physically active in their leisure time, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates in a report released Monday.

In many counties in those regions, more than 29 percent of adults reported getting no physical activity or exercise other than at their regular job.

The estimates, posted online at www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics, provide county-level estimates for leisure-time physical inactivity for all U.S. counties, as well as obesity and diabetes rates. Combining all three factors produces a map that shows the highest levels of diagnosed diabetes, leisure-time physical inactivity and obesity in the South and parts of Appalachia.

In Covington County, 34.5 percent of the adult population is obese; 35.9 percent have an inactive lifestyle; and 11.2 percent of adults have diabetes, according to the CDC.