Under the leadership of Werner Maier in a team headed by Dr. Andreas Mielck and Professor Dr. Rolf Holle at the HMGU, the group of authors evaluated data from more than 33,000 people aged 30 years or more who participated in the RKI's German telephone health interview surveys "German Health Update(GEDA)" in 2009 and 2010.

Residents of socioeconomically deprived regions suffer disproportionately from diabetes and overweight. This geographical influence is referred to as "regional deprivation." It was determined based on the "German Index of Multiple Deprivation" (GIMD) which is formed from regionally available information on income, employment, education, municipal or district revenue, social capital, environment and security in a defined area. In addition to the GIMD, the data analysis also took into consideration individual risk factors such as age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, physical activity, education and living with a partner.