Differences in diabetes mellitus onset for older Black, White, and Mexican Americans

OBJECTIVES: Our research examines the differences in estimated odds of developing diabetes mellitus for White, Black, and Mexican Americans age 51 and over for a period of 11 years. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Longitudinal data came from 14,783 respondents of the Health and Retirement Study (1995-2006) who reported being diabetes-free at the first time period. Discrete-time survival models were used to analyze ethnic variations in the probability of developing diabetes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Estimated odds of developing diabetes mellitus. RESULTS: The odds of newly diagnosed diabetes increased between 1995 and 2006, with 11 cumulative incidence for all study participants. The probability of incident diabetes among Black Americans was .01 during the period of 1995/96-1998, which increased to .03 during 1998-2000 and remained at .03 throughout subsequent periods, with cumulative incidence over the 11 years at 12 . In contrast, for Mexican Americans the probability more than doubled from .02 in 1995/ 96-1998 to .05 in 2004-2006, with cumulative incidence at 19 . White Americans had 11 cumulative incidence during the 11 year period. CONCLUSIONS: Relative to White Americans, Mexican Americans had significantly elevated odds of developing diabetes throughout the 11-year period of observation even after controlling for differences in demographic, socioeconomic, and time-varying health characteristics.

Times Cited: 0

diabetes Mellitus/Discrete-time survival model/Mexican Americans/Incidence

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