Diabetes among Chinese, Korean, and Asian Indians in New York City

Background/Significance: Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S. and New York City (NYC), but little information exists about diabetes among Asian American subgroups. The NYC Community Health Survey reported a diabetes prevalence of 10% for Asian Americans, a rate higher than for non-Hispanic whites, but few studies examine diabetes rates among Asian American subgroups in NYC. Methods: The REACH U.S. Risk Factor Survey targets specific geographic populations using address-based sampling. B Free CEED NYC data from 2009 and 2010 yielded 2220 Asian Americans of whom 1486 were Chinese, 222 were Koreans, and 203 were Asian Indians. Demographic and health variables were run by subgroups, and diabetes prevalence rates were determined. Bivariate analyses determined factors related to a diabetes diagnosis by subgroup, and logistic regression predicting a diabetes outcome included variables significant at p<0.05 in bivariate analyses. Results: Fourteen percent of Asian Americans reported a diabetes diagnosis, including 13% of Chinese, 10% of Koreans, and 24% of Asian Indians. A detailed description of the age, BMI, socio-demographics and health characteristics in each subgroup will be presented overall and by diabetic/non-diabetic individuals. Logistic regression will further predict factors associated with a diabetes diagnosis by subgroup. Discussion/Conclusions: Diabetes is nearly twice as high among Asian Indians compared to Chinese and Koreans; all subgroups had diabetes rates that were higher than aggregated NYC data. This highlights the importance of determining disease rates by subgroup among Asian Americans. Findings support the need to tailor interventions by ethnic subgroups.