Chronic health conditions: federal strategy needed to coordinate diet-related efforts : report to Congressional Requesters
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Government Accountability Office. issuing body. United States. Congress. issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, DC : United States Government Accountability Office, August 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Chronic Disease -- prevention & control Diet, Healthy -- statistics & numerical data Government Regulation Obesity -- diet therapy United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Why GAO did this study. Many chronic health conditions are preventable, yet they are leading causes of death and disability in the United States. In addition, people with certain chronic health conditions are more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19 than people without them. Poor diet is one prominent risk factor for chronic health conditions, alongside tobacco use, physical inactivity, and others. Numerous federal agencies have a role in addressing diet and its link to chronic health conditions. GAO was asked to review diet-related chronic health conditions and federal efforts to address them. This report examines (1) federal data on prevalence, mortality, and costs of selected diet-related chronic health conditions; (2) federal diet-related efforts to reduce Americans’ risk of chronic health conditions; and (3) the extent to which federal agencies have coordinated their efforts. GAO selected conditions with established scientific links to diet. GAO then analyzed federal data on prevalence, mortality, and health care spending; reviewed agency documents; interviewed officials from 21 federal agencies with a role in diet, as well as nonfederal stakeholders; and compared agency actions with selected leading practices for collaboration, which GAO has identified in prior work. What GAO recommends. Congress should consider identifying and directing a federal entity to lead development and implementation of a federal strategy for diet-related efforts aimed at reducing Americans’ risk of chronic health conditions.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (ii, 53 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918317488906676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918317488906676