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Environmental and Socio-Economic Factors as Contributors to Racial Disparities in Diabetes Prevalence

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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

We deployed a study design that attempts to account for racial differences in socioeconomic and environmental risk exposures to determine if the diabetes race disparity reported in national data is similar when black and white Americans live under similar social conditions.

DESIGN & METHODS

We compared data from the 2003 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) with the Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities-Southwest Baltimore (EHDIC-SWB) Study, which was conducted in a racially-integrated urban community without race differences in socioeconomic status.

RESULTS

In the NHIS, African Americans had greater adjusted odds of having diabetes compared to whites (OR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.26−2.04); whereas, in EHDIC-SWB white and African Americans had similar odds of having diabetes (OR: 1.07, 95% CI: 0.71−1.58). Diabetes prevalence for African Americans was similar in NHIS and EHDIC-SWB (10.4%, 95%CI: 9.5−11.4 and 10.5%, 95%CI: 8.5−12.5, respectively). Diabetes prevalence among whites differed for NHIS (6.6%, 95%CI: 6.2−6.9%) and EHDIC-SWB (10.1%, 95%CI: 7.6−12.5%).

CONCLUSIONS

Race disparities in diabetes may stem from differences in the health risk environments that African Americans and whites live. When African Americans and whites live in similar risk environments, their health outcomes are more similar.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grant # P60MD000214-01 from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and a grant from Pfizer, Inc.

Conflict of interest

None disclosed.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Room 441, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Thomas A. LaVeist PhD, Roland J. Thorpe Jr. PhD, Jessica E. Galarraga MPH, Kelly M. Bower MSN,MPH,RN & Tiffany L. Gary-Webb PhD

  2. Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Thomas A. LaVeist PhD & Roland J. Thorpe Jr. PhD

  3. Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, MD, OH, USA

    Jessica E. Galarraga MPH

  4. Department of Community-Public Health, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Kelly M. Bower MSN,MPH,RN

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Tiffany L. Gary-Webb PhD

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  1. Thomas A. LaVeist PhD
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  2. Roland J. Thorpe Jr. PhD
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  3. Jessica E. Galarraga MPH
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  4. Kelly M. Bower MSN,MPH,RN
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Correspondence to Thomas A. LaVeist PhD.

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LaVeist, T.A., Thorpe, R.J., Galarraga, J.E. et al. Environmental and Socio-Economic Factors as Contributors to Racial Disparities in Diabetes Prevalence. J GEN INTERN MED 24, 1144–1148 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1085-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1085-7

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