Asian Americans battle genetics and diabetes

by Aimee Keenan-Greene 

Asian Americans have consistently higher rates of type 2 diabetes than white Americans.

The findings appear in this months journal Diabetes Care from the American Diabetes Association.

The ADA says diabetes mellitus (MEL-ih-tus) is a group of diseases characterized by high blood glucose levels that result from defects in the body's ability to produce and/or use insulin.

The number of Asian Americans with diabetes rose from just over 4 percent in 1997,  to 8 percent in 2008.

Among white adults in that same 12 year span, the prevalence rose to 6 percent.

Hsin-Chieh "Jessica" Yeh, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the senior researcher on the new study says most people are probably unaware genetics put Asians at risk for diabetes, according to Reuters Health.

When Yeh's team accounted for factors like age, BMI (which was typically lower), income and reported exercise levels (also lower than whites), Asian background itself was linked to a 30 percent to 50 percent higher likelihood of having diabetes.

The findings are based on 230,500 U.S. adults questioned as part of the government health survey between.  About 11,000 were Asian American, the majority foreign-born.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 24 million Americans are currently living with diabetes. 

Since 2002, approximately 5.5 million children annually have been under surveillance at the SEARCH research centers to estimate how many children/youth develop diabetes.  It is estimated to be 24.3 per 100,000 per year.  That's an estimated 15,000 youth diagnosed with type 1diabetes, and about 3,700 youth diagnosed with type 2. 

In the winter months, controlling diabetes is especially important. The CDC says people with diabetes are three times more likely to die from flu complications. Death rates from pneumonia and influenza among African-Americans with diabetes are double the death rates among whites with diabetes.  One out of every four people hospitalized during last year's H1N1 pandemic had diabetes.