Investigating the Relationship Between Adult Obesity and Various Socio-economic Factors in Ohio

Background: Obesity continues to be a significant concern in the United States for decades. While several advancements in the field of medicine have been established over the years, obesity has been a serious issue in the adult population in terms of its resources and cost. Objective: The aim is to direct and explore how obesity is linked to various factors such as median household income, access to exercise opportunities, excessive drinking and diabetes prevalence in the state of Ohio.Methods: Data was collected from the County Health Rankings website from the years 2016 and 2023. Data analytics were done using various tests (regression, correlation and paired t-test) to compare adult obesity rates in Ohio and interpret its relationships with the variables chosen for the study i.e., median household income, access to exercise opportunities, excessive drinking and diabetes prevalence.Results:. Statistical decrease in adult obesity by 0.047% as exercise opportunities increase by one percent. Positive correlation between the percentage of adults with obesity and the percent of adults with diabetes (r = 0.590, p < 0.001). A significant negative correlation (r = -0.590, p < 0.001) between percent of median household income and percent of adults with obesity. Obesity rates have continued to follow historic trends of increasing in the percentage of the population that it affects specifically in Ohio there was an increase from 32.08% in 2016 to 38.11% in 2023. Among access to exercise, excessive drinking and diabetes, only diabetes was found to be predictive for obesity. Interestingly, excessive drinking was found to have a weak but significant negative correlation with the percentage of adults with obesity.