This study investigates spatial disparities in obesity among different racial and ethnic groups from the urban–rural perspective through a case study of the southeastern United States, a region marked by its prevalence of chronic diseases and degree of residential segregation. Two proposed measures—local/global entropy indexes and a set of the obesity–segregation combined index (OBESEG)—are prescribed to exploit the degree of spatial disparity between counties’ obesity rate and residential segregation in the urban–rural perspective. A strong interrelationship is confirmed between obesity rates and residential segregation, particularly for high levels of obesity and residential segregation, as well as for low levels of obesity and residential segregation at the county level. The findings identify several clusters of obesity–segregation correlation across the region. This urban–rural perspective helps reveal that clusters of rural areas have a high degree of segregation, whereas urban areas tend to create clusters of counties having less segregation and less obesity. Key Words: entropy index, obesity–residential segregation, obesity–segregation combined index, spatial disparity.

中文翻译：

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检查肥胖的空间差异：居住隔离和城乡划分

本研究通过对美国东南部的案例研究，从城乡角度调查不同种族和族裔群体之间肥胖的空间差异，该地区以慢性病流行和居住隔离程度为特征。规定了两个提议的措施——局部/全局熵指数和一组肥胖隔离组合指数 (OBESEG)——以利用城乡视角下县肥胖率和居住隔离之间的空间差异程度。肥胖率和居住隔离之间存在很强的相互关系，特别是对于高水平的肥胖和居住隔离，以及低水平的肥胖和居住隔离在县级。研究结果确定了该地区的几个肥胖-隔离相关性集群。这种城乡视角有助于揭示农村地区集群具有高度的隔离性，而城市地区则倾向于创建隔离程度较低和肥胖率较低的县集群。关键词：熵指数，肥胖-居住隔离，肥胖-隔离组合指数，空间差异。