Health insurance and the development of diabetic complications.
BACKGROUND
Lack of health insurance can adversely affect access to medical care which leads to poor disease outcome. Few studies examine the effects of no insurance on the development of diabetes complications. The objective of this study was to determine if there is an association between health insurance status and the outcome of complications among a group of diabetic patients admitted to a teaching hospital on the Texas-Mexico border.


METHODS
A retrospective case-control study was conducted over a one-year period. Multiple imputations were used to address missing values. We examined 82 diabetics who had one or more complications and 83 diabetic controls without complications. A complication was defined as a current skin or soft-tissue infection or a limb amputation. The main exposure was health insurance status, a three-level variable: no health insurance, Medicaid, and other insurance (referent). Logistic regression was used to calculate health insurance odds ratios (OR) adjusted for age, sex, and a history of recent trauma.


RESULTS
Patients with no health insurance were twice as likely to have a diabetic complication as patients in the referent category: adjusted OR = 2.22, P = 0.03. An association between Medicaid status and complications was not detected (adjusted OR = 1.16, P = 0.78).


CONCLUSIONS
Not having health insurance was a risk factor for developing diabetic complications in a group of predominantly Hispanic patients.
Flavin
Nina E
NE
Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, El Paso, TX 79905, USA. nina.habicht@ttuhsc.edu
Mulla
Zuber D
ZD
Bonilla-Navarrete
Aracely
A
Chedebeau
Fernando
F
Lopez
Oscar
O
Tovar
Yara
Y
Meza
Armando
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000671:Amputation, Surgical; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000209:etiology; D013781:Texas; D055815:Young Adult