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Obesity Prevention and Diabetes Screening at Local Health Departments.
Zhang, Xinzhi MD, PhD; Luo, Huabin PhD; Gregg, Edward W PhD; Mukhtar, Qaiser PhD; Rivera, Mark PhD; Barker, Lawrence PhD; Albright, Ann PhD, RD
[Miscellaneous Article] American Journal of Public Health. 100(8):1434-1441, August 2010.

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Objectives: We assessed whether local health departments (LHDs) were conducting obesity prevention programs and diabetes screening programs, and we examined associations between LHD characteristics and whether they conducted these programs.

Methods: We used the 2005 National Profile of Local Health Departments to conduct a cross-sectional analysis of 2300 LHDs nationwide. We used multivariate logistic regressions to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results: Approximately 56% of LHDs had obesity prevention programs, 51% had diabetes screening programs, and 34% had both. After controlling for other factors, we found that employing health educators was significantly associated with LHDs conducting obesity prevention programs (OR = 2.08; 95% CI = 1.54, 2.81) and diabetes screening programs (OR = 1.63; 95% CI = 1.23, 2.17). We also found that conducting chronic disease surveillance was significantly associated with LHDs conducting obesity prevention programs (OR = 1.66; 95% CI = 1.26, 2.20) and diabetes screening programs (OR = 2.44; 95% CI = 1.90, 3.15). LHDs with a higher burden of diabetes prevalence were more likely to conduct diabetes screening programs (OR = 1.20; 95% CI = 1.11, 1.31) but not obesity prevention programs.

Conclusions: The presence of obesity prevention and diabetes screening programs was significantly associated with LHD structural capacity and general performance. However, the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of both types of programs remain unknown.