Social determinants of health, such as food insecurity, low household income, and lack of private health insurance, are associated with higher rates of prediabetes in adolescents, independent of race and ethnicity, according to a new study by University of Pittsburgh and UPMC researchers. The findings suggest that screening for these modifiable social factors could help identify youth at risk and improve early interventions to prevent progression to type 2 diabetes.
“This study underscores the importance of using social factors, which are modifiable — meaning that we can address them — to understand and reduce diabetes risk in adolescents as opposed to personal, non-modifiable characteristics like race and ethnicity,” said senior author Mary Ellen Vajravelu, M.D. (above), assistant professor of pediatrics at Pitt and pediatric endocrinologist at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
The researchers analyzed data from 1,563 participants aged 12 to 18 years with obesity, finding that 8.5% had elevated blood glucose indicating prediabetes. Adverse scores for food security, health insurance, and household income were all linked with higher prediabetes risk. The associations also differed within racial and ethnic groups, highlighting the importance of considering social determinants of health when assessing diabetes risk.
“If we use race and ethnicity to guide us in identifying children at risk of prediabetes, it could steer us away from screening children who do not fall into a higher risk race or ethnicity category,” Vajravelu noted. “Instead, if we tailor our screenings based on exposure to risk factors, not race, we might be able to pick up additional children who are at risk for diabetes.”
“Social Determinants of Health Linked with Youth-Onset Prediabetes” (June 11, 2024)
