Disparities in Diabetes Risk Often Overlooked

MedPage Today: March 22, 2013

Racial and ethnic disparities put some people at higher risk for diabetes than others and need to be taken into consideration in treatment decisions, patient advocates said here.

For instance, minorities have worse insulin resistance and glucose metabolism than whites, Sherita Golden, MD, director of inpatient diabetes management at Johns Hopkins University said. That means blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be obese and therefore at higher risk for diabetes.

Even recognizing such risk factors, physicians should be aware of subpopulation differences, such as the fact that Filipinos and South Asians are at greater risk for diabetes than people from other regions of the continent, she said.

Biological characteristics such as reduced beta-cell function also puts Asians at higher risk for diabetes despite lower body-mass indexes, Golden noted. Read more