Diabetes and Associated Risk Factors Among Native Americans

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of diabetes and related risk factors among Native Americans. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We used 1988-1989 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to calculate the overall, age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes, obesity, sedentary life-style, hypertension, and smoking among Native Americans. The SESUDAAN software package was used to derive confidence intervals. RESULTS: The prevalence of diabetes was 11.6% among the 768 Native American Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System respondents (95% confidence interval 7.8-15.4) and 4.7% among the 121,986 white respondents (95% confidence interval 4.6-4.8). The age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes was 2.5 times higher among Native Americans than among whites. The prevalence of obesity was higher among Native Americans (34.4; 95% confidence interval 31.7-37.1) than among whites (23.9%; confidence interval 23.7-24.1). The prevalences of sedentary lifestyle (58%), hypertension (16%), and smoking (28%) were similar among both populations. CONCLUSIONS: The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System may prove as a useful tool for surveying Native Americans living on and off reservations for inclusion in national estimates of diabetes prevalences.