Americans growing fatter but buckling up

New survey charts decade's health trends

(CNN) -- A new study reveals frequent public admonishments to shun fatty foods and tobacco aren't necessarily working.

During the last decade, more people became obese and sedentary, and the number of smokers failed to drop significantly, said the study from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a state-based analysis of health surveys coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, the evaluation of health trends revealed that more people are taking steps to prevent and detect disease.

The data collection was compiled through monthly telephone interviews of randomly selected adults by state health departments. Data was incomplete for Kansas and Nevada and unavailable for Wyoming and the District of Columbia.

The results will be published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

EXTRA INFORMATION Map: See how healthy your state is

Results compared data from 1991 and 2000 to look at risk factors and preventive measures. The purpose of the study was to evaluate changes in risky behaviors and health practices that can have a substantial impact on preventing deaths in the United States.

Specifically, researchers compared the health risk factors of cigarette smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, alcohol binge drinking and seat belt use. Preventive steps included mammographies, colorectal screenings, influenza immunizations, cervical cancer screenings, pneumococcal immunizations and cholesterol screenings.

For the five health risk measures, the analyses showed a substantial increase in obesity and seat belt use and a small rise in binge drinking. Obesity was up in all 47 states surveyed, and 39 of the 47 states showed an increase in seat-belt use.

The researchers surmised that the enforcement of extensive seat belt laws during the last 20 years helped reshape the societal habits regarding seat-belt use.

"The issues surrounding smoking and alcohol use are just a lot more complex, " said Dr. David E. Nelson, a senior health scientist at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and lead author of the study. "You are not going to get fined if you light up."

The number of people smoking and lounging as couch potatoes remained almost unchanged. Smoking habits did not change in 32 states and increased in 14 states. It decreased significantly only in Minnesota. In 34 states, the level of physical inactivity remained unchanged, while it increased in three states and dropped in 11.

Almost all states improved in making efforts toward early disease detection. The number of people getting mammograms and flu shots showed significant increases, and there were slight increases in the number of people getting screened for cervical and colon cancer.

"For the health services, the increase is not only individuals who ask for the services, but there are also health maintenance organizations that are pushing them because they recognize the value of preventive medicine," Nelson said. "And going to get a service isn't as difficult as going to the gym three times a week or eating less or refraining from smoking."

The study has several limitations, the researchers wrote. The primary drawback is the data's dependency on self-reported information. And "depending on the measure, self-reports can result in overestimates or underestimates compared with other data sources, such as health records, physiological measures or biochemical verification," the study said.

Self-reporting lends itself to people stating they engage in undesirable activities less often and desirable habits more frequently, the report said.