Bad news for San Joaquin Valley residents: Depending on your gender and race, you are more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure and be less active than people in other parts of the state.

And people with those risk factors have greater chances of developing cardiovascular disease, one of the leading causes of death in the state.

Those are among the findings in a report out today by California's Department of Health Services and the University of California at San Francisco.

The study is the fifth in a series conducted by the state's Cardiovascular Disease Outreach, Resources and Epidemiology Program.

Researchers interviewed 36,004 adult Californians and used their answers to identify various health conditions and behaviors.

Among the study's findings concerning the valley:

• Hispanic women are more likely to develop diabetes than Hispanic women in other regions.
• White men and women are more likely to have high blood pressure than any other group in the state.
• Hispanic men in the valley are less likely to exercise, are overweight and are more often diagnosed with diabetes than Hispanic men in other regions.

Researchers divided the state into 10 regions. The study's Central Valley region included Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Merced, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties.

Gazzaniga said researchers were unable to pinpoint reasons that groups in some areas had more risk factors than others. But public health officials and medical providers can use the study results to help groups at risk.

"The report tells us where we should better target our prevention efforts," said epidemiologist Jeannie Gazzaniga, the study's lead author.

Like the previous studies, the main purpose is to emphasize prevention. The main risk factors for cardiovascular disease -- diabetes, high blood pressure, being overweight, smoking and inactivity -- all are preventable, said Cleopathia Moore of the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency.

Moore, associate director of community health services, said it is important for health providers to emphasize healthy living and proper nutrition to people in high-risk groups. Moreover, at-risk folks need to take heed and change their behavior.

Since 1994, the state cardiovascular program has examined heart disease and stroke in California. The last study, published in July, looked at hospitalization rates for heart disease and stroke.