The CDC runs one of the great health information resources for those of us trying to figure out how to keep folks health: The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. It uses phone interviews of randomly selected people from all over the US to make estimates of various health problems. They recently released new data, including the prevalence of diabetes by metropolitan area. For those of you keeping score, the winners and losers are:

Highest prevalence of diabetes:

Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA 15.4%

Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH 14.7%

Shreveport-Bossier City, LA 13.4%

Charleston, WV 13.1%

Chattanooga, TN-GA 13.1%

Lowest prevalence of diabetes: Bozeman, MT 2.8%

Fort Collins-Loveland, CO 4.2%

Fargo, ND-MN 4.4%

Provo-Orem, UT 4.7%

Heber, UT 4.8%

(My home town of Burlington, VT, where we developed the Vermedx Diabetes Information System, came in 6th at 5.1%. We're sore losers and we won't rest till we're the best!)

Here is map showing the whole nation:

These kind of data can tell us a lot about where we need to go to have the biggest impact on people's lives.