Mapping the childhood obesity epidemic: a geographic profile of the predicted risk for childhood obesity in communities across the United States

Abstract

"This study explores the link between community risk factors and childhood obesity using data on child obesity from the 1988-1994 National Health and Examination Survey, the 2002-2004 National Medical Expenditures Survey, and the 2003-2004 National Survey of Children's Health, combined with data on community characteristics from a wide variety of sources. Multivariate models that relate child obesity to the characteristics of the child's community are used to predict the "risk of childhood obesity" for communities in the United States. The report includes maps and community profiles for 50 states and the District of Columbia."Sharon K. Long, Leah Hendey, Kathy Pettit."December 20, 2007."Funding for this study was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The research in this report that is based on the MEPS was conducted at the CFACT Data Center, and the support of AHRQ (and, especially, Ray Kuntz) is acknowledged. The research in this report that is based on the NCHS and the NHANES was conducted at the NCHS Research Data Center, and the support of NCHS (and, especially, Robert Krasowski) is acknowledged. The results and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not indicated concurrence by AHRQ, NCHS, or the Department of Health and Human Services.Also abvailable via the World Wide Web as an Acrobat .pdf file (23.66 MB, 136 p.)Includes bibliographical references