The rate of diabetes in the US varies widely state to state, as does the rate of diagnosis, depending in part on which state a person lives in, race, and whether the person has insurance. This is the first study to examine the prevalence of diabetes and the proportion of undiagnosed diabetes state by state.

Between 2000 and 2007, life expectancies in more than 80% of United States counties fell in standing against the average of the 10 nations with the best life expectancies in the world, according to new research by IHME, in collaboration with researchers from Imperial College London.

Life expectancy in the US is shortened by more than four years because of preventable risk factors such as smoking and being overweight, IHME researchers found.

Researchers at IHME have created a new approach for generating estimates of health trends in counties and other small population areas. They used this new small area estimation methodology to estimate the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in all counties in the United States for 2008, in this study.  

Hypertension is an important and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality. We estimate trends in prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in US counties using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in five two-year waves from 1999–2008 including 26,349 adults aged 30 years and older and from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from 1997–2009 including 1,283,722 adults aged 30 years and older.

Cigarette smoking is a leading risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality in the United States, yet information about smoking prevalence and trends is not routinely available below the state level, impeding local-level action.