CDC report details amount of 'laziness' among adults in counties across the country

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Adults living on the Kansas side of the Metro are much more physically active than on the Missouri side, according to new estimates released Wednesday by the federal government.

That’s unless you’re in Wyandotte County, Kansas, where a metro-high 31 percent of residents age 20 or older (also a Kansas high) reported being inactive in their free time, based on the latest lethargy survey done in 2008 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nationally, the 2008 survey, the most recent available, found that 25.4 percent of adults age 20 and older spent no time on activities such as walking for exercise, gardening, golfing or running, putting them at increased risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.

"Physical activity is crucial to managing diabetes and reducing serious complications of the disease," said Ann Albright, director of the CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation, which compiled the reports. Diabetes affects 25.8 million Americans of all ages, including 7 million who don't know they have the disease.

While Wyandotte County ranks high among Metro counties (defined by NBC Action News for the purposes of this article as: Jackson & its six neighboring counties on Missouri side; Johnson & five neighboring counties on Kansas side), Kansans who live in other Metro counties report much more activity than Missourians.

"Moderate intensity activities such as dancing or brisk walking for just 150 minutes a week can significantly improve the health of people with diabetes or at high risk for the disease," Albright said.

In Kansas, Johnson County leads the pack in the Metro, with just 17.1 percent of adult residents reporting inactivity during free time. In Missouri, the most active Metro county is Clay, with just 26.5 percent reporting inactivity, while Ray County has the highest percentage of inactive adults, at 30.4.

Statewide, zero Kansas counties ranked among the highest levels of inactivity, identified by the CDC as above 31.2 percent. Missouri had eight above that ranking: Dunklin (33.6); Wright (33.3); Stoddard (33.0); Mississippi (32.2); Laclede (32.0); Washington (32.0); Livingston (31.5); and Scott (31.2).

Here’s a look at the 13 Metro counties, separated by state with their percentage of inactive adults in parenthesis:

Missouri

Ray (30.4)
Cass (27.3)
Platte (27.2)
Lafayette (27.2)
Johnson (27.1)
Clay (26.5)
Jackson (26.0)

Kansas

Wyandotte (31.0)
Franklin (26.5)
Miami (25.1)
Leavenworth (25.1)
Douglas (21.0)
Johnson (17.0)

Lee Bowman, with the Scripps Howard News Service, contributed to this report