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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2006.094482v1 97/12/2260    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Google Scholar Articles by Signorello, L. B. Articles by Blot, W. J. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Signorello, L. B. Articles by Blot, W. J. Related Collections Diabetes Epidemiology Genetics Other Environment African Americans/Blacks Socioeconomic Factors

Lisa B. Signorello, ScD, David G. Schlundt, PhD, Sarah S. Cohen, MS, Mark D. Steinwandel, BBA, Maciej S. Buchowski, PhD, Joseph K. McLaughlin, PhD, Margaret K. Hargreaves, PhD and William J. Blot, PhD

Lisa B. Signorello, Joseph K. McLaughlin, and William J. Blot are with the International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, Md, and the Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn, and the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville. David G. Schlundt is with the Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville. Sarah S. Cohen and Mark D. Steinwandel are with the International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, Md. Maciej S. Buchowski is with the Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, and the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville. Margaret K. Hargreaves is with the Department of Internal Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Lisa B. Signorello, ScD, International Epidemiology Institute, 1455 Research Blvd, Suite 550, Rockville, MD 20850 (e-mail: lisa. signorello{at}intepi.org).

Objectives. We investigated whether racial disparities in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes exist beyond what may be attributable to differences in socioeconomic status (SES) and other modifiable risk factors.

Methods. We analyzed data from 34331 African American and 9491 White adults aged 40 to 79 years recruited into the ongoing Southern Community Cohort Study. Participants were enrolled at community health centers and had similar socioeconomic circumstances and risk factor profiles. We used logistic regression to estimate the association between race and prevalence of self-reported diabetes after taking into account age, SES, health insurance coverage, body mass index, physical activity, and hypertension.

Results. Multivariate analyses accounting for several diabetes risk factors did not provide strong support for higher diabetes prevalence rates among African Americans than among Whites (men: odds ratio [OR]=1.07; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.95, 1.20); women: OR=1.13, 95% CI=1.04, 1.22).

Conclusions. Our findings suggest that major differences in diabetes prevalence between African Americans and Whites may simply reflect differences in established risk factors for the disease, such as SES, that typically vary according to race.