Background | gischronicconditions

The project aims to examine the presence and contributing factors of chronic conditions in the southeastern United States, which is commonly highlighted as a hotspot for chronic health conditions. The southeast, particularly North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, struggle with a high prevalence of chronic conditions and high death rates associated with chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. While the national average for diabetes prevalence is 9.3%, North Carolina and Georgia each have an 11% prevalence rate and South Carolina has a slightly higher prevalence rate at 12%. Similarly, South Carolina and Georgia are both among the top 10 states in the country for percent population with hypertension at 37.8% and 36.2% respectively. North Carolina is only barely out of the top 10 as well, coming in 11th in the country with a rate of 35.2% of the population having hypertension. These are all consistently higher than the national average, 33.5%, for the percentage of the population with hypertension. Both diabetes and hypertension contribute to the development of heart disease, which is the number one leading cause of death in the United States. South Carolina and Georgia both have a 22% death rate from heart disease and North Carolina is nearly the same at 21%. (See Table 1) Heart disease is the number one cause of death for Georgia and the second leading cause of death for North and South Carolina.

Table 1: State Average Rates for Diabetes and Hypertension Prevalence and Heart Disease Death Rate

Figure 2 visually displays the geographic distribution of obesity prevalence and hypertension death rates for the study area of the project: North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. As demonstrated in the map, the geographic unit of analysis will be at the county level. Attempts to obtain more granular data for the health variables in question were unsuccessful. The counties with the highest death rates associated with both hypertension and heart disease in the three states in the Southeast that we will examine. In this project, the root cause of these chronic conditions will be investigated at the county level in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. While previous studies have identified these areas as plagued with chronic conditions, we seek to build on this information and correlate factors that could contribute to these conditions.

Figure 2: Obesity vs Hypertension Deaths at the county level

It is our goal to determine if there are spatial patterns in the distribution of diabetes, hypertension, and/or heart disease, and if those patterns reveal clustering of low or high values. If this spatial clustering is seen, then we would like to analyze and examine any common contributing factors correlated with these chronic conditions. Based on the results of the project, health extension agents from land grant universities across all three states and other health professionals can better target the health education and prevention needs of the populations within their counties.