title: High prevalence of diabetes among Indo-Guyanese adults, Schenectady, New York.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Indo-Guyanese population is the largest immigrant minority population in Schenectady, New York. A clinic-based study in Schenectady and surveillance reports from Guyana found high diabetes prevalence and mortality among Guyanese of Indian descent. No community-based study has focused on diabetes among Indo-Guyanese immigrants in the United States. We sought information on the prevalence of diabetes and its complications in Indo-Guyanese adults in Schenectady and compared it with the prevalence among non-Hispanic white adults in Schenectady.
  
  
  METHODS
  We administered a cross-sectional health survey at community venues in Schenectady in 2011. We identified diagnosed diabetes and its complications through self-reports by using a reliability-tested questionnaire. The final data set included 313 Indo-Guyanese and 327 non-Hispanic white adults aged 18 years or older. We compared the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes and diabetes complications between Indo-Guyanese and non-Hispanic whites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most Indo-Guyanese participants were born in Guyana, whereas most non-Hispanic whites were born in the United States. The crude prevalence of diagnosed diabetes among Indo-Guyanese participants and non-Hispanic whites was 30.3% and 16.1%, respectively. The age-standardized prevalence was 28.7% among Indo-Guyanese participants, significantly higher than that among non-Hispanic whites (14.5%, P < .001). Indo-Guyanese participants who had diabetes had a lower body mass index and were more likely to report poor or fair general health and eye or vision complications than non-Hispanic whites who had diabetes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study confirms the higher prevalence of diabetes in Indo-Guyanese adults in Schenectady. The higher prevalence of complications suggests poor control of diabetes. Excess burden of diabetes in this population calls for further research and public health action.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University at Albany School of Public Health, One University Place, Rensselaer, NY 12144-3456, USA. ahosler@albany.edu
authors.forename: Akiko S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Hosler
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Pratt
authors.forename: Kathryn A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Sen
authors.forename: Erin M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Buckenmeyer
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simao
authors.forename: Ephraim E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Back
authors.forename: Sanghamitra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Savadatti
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kahn
authors.forename: Glynnis S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Hunt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000208:ethnology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006172:Guyana / Q000208:ethnology; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000208:ethnology; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence
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