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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Multidisciplinary Approach to Obesity Management: A Case Report
Published on: May 30, 2025
Obesity prevention and diabetes screening at local health departments
Xinzhi Zhang1, Huabin Luo, Edward W Gregg
1National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341-3727, USA. XZhang4@cdc.gov
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.
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