Mapping diabetes-related rates and resources using geographic information systems and secondary data

Background: In order to efficiently help communities prevent and manage diabetes, health departments need to be able to target high risk populations with low resources related to diabetes. To aid in this process, we mapped county-level diabetes-related rates and resources using secondary data sources to determine Michigan (MI) counties with favorable and very unfavorable profiles. Methods: We collected diabetes-related rates and resources from web-based sources and mapped these using Blender v2.49 software and arcGIS 9.3. Web sources included age-adjusted county diabetes rates (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), percent of Medicare patient who received A1C testing in the past year (Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare), number of certified diabetes educators (CDE) (American Diabetes Association (ADA)), diabetes support groups (MI Diabetes Outreach Networks), as well as population estimates and household incomes (U.S. Census). Favorable profiles were indicated by below average rates of disease and above average A1C testing completion and resources. Very unfavorable counties were defined as having 3 or more of the following: no support groups, no CDE, below average A1C testing, and above average diabetes rates. Results: Of the 83 MI counties, 14 had favorable profiles and 5 had very unfavorable profiles. Mapping allowed us to easily see the 7 counties (all northern or midstate) with higher than average diabetes rates as well as missing either a CDE or support groups. Conclusions: Use of public data and mapping tools can help to identify counties with low and high diabetes-related needs and resources.