title: Racial and ethnic disparities in diabetes complications in the northeastern United States: the role of socioeconomic status.
abstract: The role of socioeconomic status (SES) in explaining racial/ ethnic disparities in diabetes remains unclear. We investigated disparities in self-reported diabetes complications and the role of macro (eg, income, education) and micro (eg, owning a home or having a checking account) SES indicators in explaining these differences. The sample included individuals with a diagnosis of diabetes (N=795) who were aged, on average, 55 years, and 55.6% non-Hispanic white, 25.0% African American, and 19.4% Hispanic. Approximately 8% reported nephropathy, 35% reported retinopathy, and 16% reported cardiovascular disease. There were significant disparities in the rates of complications among non-Hispanic white, African American, and Hispanic participants, with Hispanic participants having the highest rates of nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular disease. Macro SES indicators (eg, income) mediated racial differences (ie, non-Hispanic whites vs African Americans) in self-reported retinopathy, a combination of macro and more micro SES indicators (eg, education, income, and ownirg a home or having a checking account) mediated racial/ethnic differences (ie, non-Hispanic white vs Hispanic participants) in self-reported cardiovascular disease, and only micro SES indicators (eg, owning a home or having a checking account) mediated differences between lower-income SES racial/ethnic minority groups (ie, African American vs Hispanic participants) in self-reported retinopathy and cardiovascular disease. Findings underscore that indicators of SES must be sensitive to the outcome of interest and the racial/ethnic groups being compared.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Chandra Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Osborn
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Groot
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000208:ethnology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity / Q000639:trends; D009511:New England / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class