Epidemiology of diabetes among Arab Americans.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the prevalence of diabetes and glucose intolerance by age and sex in the Arab-American community of Dearborn, Michigan.


METHODS
Participants were randomly selected adult Arab Americans, 20-75 years of age, from randomly selected households in Dearborn, Michigan. Demographic and anthropometric data were recorded. Glucose tolerance was assessed with 2-h 75-g oral glucose tolerance tests and classified according to 1997 American Diabetes Association and 1998 World Health Organization criteria.


RESULTS
A total of 626 eligible adults were selected, and 542 participated (87% response rate). Because prevalence increases with age and the overall response rate for women (328/352; 93%) was higher than that for men (214/274; 78%), prevalence rates were adjusted for age and sex. The overall prevalence of diabetes was 15.5% (95% CI 12.2-18.7%) in women and 20.1% (15.0-25.2%) in men (P = 0.13). The prevalence of previously diagnosed diabetes was similar to that of undiagnosed diabetes. Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and/or impaired fasting glucose (IFG) were present in 16.8% (12.8-20.8%) of women and 29.7% (23.4-35.9%) of men (P = 0.0007). The combined rates of glucose intolerance (diabetes, IGT, and IFG) were 32.3% (27.8-36.7%) for women and 49.8% (43.1-56.4%) for men (P < 0.0001). Among younger adults, the prevalence in men was higher than that in women. As expected, subjects with diabetes or IGT/IFG were older and had greater BMI and waist-to-hip ratios than subjects with normal glucose tolerance.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of diabetes and glucose intolerance is extremely high among adult Arab Americans in Michigan and represents a major clinical and public health problem. Community-based intervention programs to prevent and treat diabetes are urgently needed.
Jaber
Linda A
LA
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA. ljaber@wayne.edu
Brown
Morton B
MB
Hammad
Adnan
A
Nowak
Sandra N
SN
Zhu
Qian
Q
Ghafoor
Anisa
A
Herman
William H
WH
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D018912:Arabs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001824:Body Constitution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D018149:Glucose Intolerance / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution