Las Animas - Bent County Library District

Colorado, like the rest of the United States (U.S.), has experienced an upward trend in the adult prevalence of obesity since the early 2000s. According to recent data, an estimated one in five adult Coloradans are obese and more than half (57.4%) are overweight or obese. Similar to other chronic diseases, there are differences in the prevalence of obesity by race, ethnicity, income, education level, age, sex and other demographic and socioeconomic...

Arthritis and obesity are common co-morbidities, and arthritis has been implicated as a potential barrier to physical activity among adults with obesity. This report aims to further investigate the interplay between arthritis, obesity, and levels of physical activity.

As of 2011, more than 1 million Coloradans were considered obese. Obesity can be caused by several factors including genetics, metabolism, personal behaviors, culture, and socioeconomic status. Recent studies have shown that obesity rates in rural areas are often higher than urban areas in the U.S. 5 Rural areas in Colorado have been associated with a number of disparities in health and access to health services, including higher rates of motor vehicle...

For years, Colorado has been labeled the "leanest" state in the United States for having low adult obesity prevalence. The adult obesity prevalence has been rising in the U.S. over the past three decades. Colorado is not immune from this trend. One theory is that the influx of migration to Colorado has brought in heavier people and contributed to the increasing obesity trend. The purpose of this report is to explore this theory by estimating the...

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has developed community-level estimates for a set of important health condition and risk behavior indicators. These four-year estimates are produced for each census tract in the State of Colorado based on modeled survey data collected in the Colorado Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and incorporating population, race, gender, and age estimates for each census tract from the...

As recently as 1969 about half the school aged children in the United States walked or bicycled to school. Today fewer than 15% of school children walk or bike to school and as much as 20-30% of morning traffic is generated by parents driving their children to school. Children are less active today and the majority of children living within a 1/2 mile of schools are driven in private vehicles. Obesity rates are on the rise and the cost of obesity...