title: Family networks of obesity and type 2 diabetes in rural Appalachia.
abstract: The prevalence of obesity and diabetes has been studied in adolescent and adult populations in poor, medically underserved rural Appalachia of West Virginia. A web-based questionnaire about obesity and diabetes was obtained in 989 family members of 210 Community Based Clinical Research (CBPR) trained adolescent members of a network of 18 science clubs, incorporating 142 families. After age-correction in < 20 years old, 50% of both adolescents and adults were obese. The frequency distribution of obesity was trimodal. In the overall population 10.4% had type 2 diabetes, while 24% of adult, obese subjects had type 2 diabetes. A new metric, the family diabetes risk potential, identified a trimodal distribution of risk potential. In the lowest most common distribution 43% of families had a diabetic family member. In the intermediate distribution, 69% had a diabetic family member, and in the distribution with highest scores all the families had a diabetic member. In conclusion, the poorest counties of rural Appalachia are at crisis level with the prevalence of obesity and diabetes. The distribution of age-corrected obesity and family diabetes risk potential are not normally distributed. We suggest that targeting individual family units at greatest risk offers the most efficient strategy for ameliorating this epidemic.
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Pharmacology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pancoska
authors.forename: Shama
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buch
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cecchetti
authors.forename: Bambang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Parmanto
authors.forename: Marcella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vecchio
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Groark
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paulsen
authors.forename: Genevieve
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bardwell
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morton
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chester
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Branch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001061:Appalachian Region / Q000453:epidemiology; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010375:Pedigree; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014903:West Virginia / Q000453:epidemiology