Prevalence of diagnosed diabetes among American Indians and Alaska Natives, 1987. Estimates from a national outpatient data base.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes among American Indians and Alaska Natives served by the IHS.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study of the 1987 IHS national outpatient data base.


RESULTS
Prevalence rates of diagnosed diabetes determined from the IHS outpatient data base were consistent with recent studies of diabetes in different IHS areas. IHS-wide, age-adjusted prevalence was 69/100,000, or 2.8 times the U.S. rate. There was considerable variation in prevalence rates of diabetes throughout the country, with rates ranging from 15.3/100,000 in Alaska to 119.2/100,000 in southern Arizona.


CONCLUSIONS
This study documented the high prevalence of diabetes among American Indians and Alaska Natives and the wide variation in rates between different tribal groups. This study also demonstrated the feasibility of using an outpatient data base to estimate rates of disease that have uniform methods of diagnosis and result in frequent clinic visits.
Valway
S
S
Indian Health Service Diabetes Program, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102.
Freeman
W
W
Kaufman
S
S
Welty
T
T
Helgerson
S D
SD
Gohdes
D
D
D000367:Age Factors; D000413:Alaska / Q000453:epidemiology; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D003710:Demography; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American; D004930:Inuit; D010045:Outpatients; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology