One
in Seven California Adults Suffers From or is
at Risk for Diabetes
The findings, put California ahead of national
diabetes rates for every population segment under
65 years of age.
One
in seven California adults suffers from or is
at significant risk for diabetes, according to
a major, comprehensive study released today by
the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The
findings, based on data from the 2001 California
Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2001), put California
ahead of national diabetes rates for every population
segment under 65 years of age and show heightened
disparities for communities of color, people with
low income, or those in rural areas.
"As Californians in ever-increasing numbers
fall victim to obesity and inactivity, we're seeing
a corresponding increase in one of the nation's
most prevalent chronic conditions," explained
report lead author Allison L. Diamant, MD, MSHS,
of the UCLA School of Medicine and Faculty Associate
at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
"The tragedy is that this largely preventable
killer is incurable, trapping millions of Californians
into a life of treatment, as well as potential
for complications and suffering."
The Center's report, Diabetes in California: Findings
from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey,
is based on a telephone survey of more than 55,000
Californians and provides a definitive statewide
and county-by-county understanding of this health
condition. The report offers the most authoritative
look at adult diabetes prevalence levels in California
to date, as well as some of the factors that affect
the development of diabetes and related disparities.
While California's overall adult diabetes prevalence
rate of 5.9 percent mirrors national numbers,
the study's detailed breakdown by population groups
unveils a far more worrisome picture with notable
disparities by education and income, as well as
by race and ethnicity and geographic location.
According to the CHIS 2001 data, African Americans
living in California are most afflicted by diabetes
(10.3 percent), suffering from this disease nearly
twice as frequently as whites (5.6 percent). With
a diabetes rate of 9.3 percent, American Indians
and Alaska Natives also suffer disproportionately
from diabetes. And while the overall prevalence
rate for Latinos is 6 percent, that figure belies
the very high prevalence among Latino seniors
-- 24.4 percent as compared with the state average
of 14.3 percent for adults over 65 years of age.
"While diabetes may be color blind, it's
clear that the conditions and environments in
which it breeds are not," said American Diabetes
Association President Francine R. Kaufman, MD.
"These disparities must be addressed at their
root to protect the health of Californians. We
have to fundamentally change the factors that
spawn this incurable condition."
Two of those contributing factors identified by
the study are low levels of education and income.
Prevalence rates among respondents declined in
direct relationship to the level of schooling
attained, with college graduates less than half
as likely to suffer from diabetes (4.3 percent)
as respondents with an eighth grade or less education
(9.9 percent). Likewise, poverty seems to be an
indicator for diabetes. Low-income respondents
had a significantly higher rate than their middle-
and upper-income counterparts.
"The health of California is in a tailspin,"
remarked California State Senator Martha Escutia
(D-Whittier). "We cannot accept these numbers
as status quo -- people's lives are at stake.
If we do not make diabetes control and prevention
a personal, community and policy priority, we
are looking at increased suffering, higher mortality
rates, greater government costs and possibly the
first drop in life expectancy figures in a century."
But these numbers could climb significantly. All
told, the authors estimate that an additional
1.8 million California adults (8.2 percent) are
at significant risk for diabetes based on their
sedentary lifestyles and being overweight or obese.
These findings support a California Diabetes Control
Program prediction that the state's prevalence
of diabetes will double by the year 2020.
"Our love affair with fast food, soda and
the remote control is taking us down a deadly
path," said Marion Standish, JD, senior program
officer for The California Endowment, a private,
statewide health foundation that funded the diabetes
study. "The situation is even more alarming
in light of the record high levels of childhood
obesity and inactivity -- key predictors of diabetes
-- that place California's next generation at
serious risk."
Copies of the study as well as breakdowns of the
data by county are available online at www.calendow.org
and at www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu.
