Race, Gender and Age Differences in Diabetes Self-Management Practices

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 29.1 million of the population were living with diabetes in 2012.  Diabetes is likely to develop in middle aged and older adults and prevalence of diabetes is highest in adults 65 years of age and older.  Among seniors 11.2 million or 25.9% live with diabetes. Diabetes complications in older adults occur more frequently and are associated with poorer outcomes than diabetes complications in younger individuals. Diabetes requires effective self-management practices and monitoring of blood glucose levels to reduce complications. Researchers have established that challenges exist for diabetics to implement effective self-management practices. The nature of these challenges depends on race, age, gender and socio-economic status. Although some relationships between demographic characteristics and adherence to self-management practices have been investigated, the relationship between gender, age and self-monitoring of blood glucose levels and other self-management practices is poorly investigated.  This cross-sectional study used data from the 2009-2012 United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to analyze the relationships between age, gender, duration of diabetes illness, an individual’s perception of one’s own health, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, and other diabetes self-management practices in the United States. Moderated linear and logistic regression was used to analyze these relationships.