Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

High Prevalence of Diabetes and Impaired Fasting Glucose Among Chinese Immigrants in New York City

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Asians have an increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes, despite relatively low prevalence of obesity in this population. Asian American is a diverse population and there are yet limited data on the prevalence of diabetes among different Asian subgroups and existing studies are limited by small sample size. Hence, we conducted a cross-sectional survey to estimate the prevalence of diabetes and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) in this population among Chinese Americans, the largest Asian subgroup in the US. Our study population consisted 2,071 individuals (52.8% women; mean age: 52.7 ± 13.8 years and mean body mass index (BMI): 23.9 ± 3.2 kg/m2) living in New York City. Data on sociodemographic factors, anthropometric measurements and medical history is obtained during a 1 day clinic visit. In addition, a fasting blood sample was collected to perform measurements on plasma glucose and lipids. Diabetes was defined as self-reported treatment or a fasting glucose ≥126 mg/dl) and IFG was defined as fasting glucose of 100–125 mg/dl. The age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes in this population was 8.6% and that of IFG was 34.6%. The prevalence of IFG/diabetes was high (38.3%) even among those with low BMI by Asian standards (<23.0 kg/m2) and showed a linear increasing trend with increasing waist circumference. These data suggest a high prevalence of impaired glucose regulation in Chinese immigrants even among individuals with normal BMI. Future studies should focus on evaluating the mechanisms of increased susceptibility of IFG and diabetes in this population.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Rajpathak S, Wylie-Rosett J, Alderman MH. Diabetes in Asia—letter. Jama. (in press).

  2. Chan JC, Malik V, Jia W, et al. Diabetes in Asia: epidemiology, risk factors, and pathophysiology. Jama. 2009;301(20):2129–40.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Fujimoto WY. The growing prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes in migrant Asian populations and its implications for Asia. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 1992;15(2):167–83.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. United States Census Bureau. 2008. (http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/011910.html). Accessed Oct 2008.

  5. Profile of New York City’s Asian Americans [electronic article]. 2008.

  6. Van Wye G, Kerker BD, Matte T, et al. Obesity and diabetes in New York City, 2002 and 2004. Prev Chronic Dis. 2008;5(2):A48.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Thorpe LE, Upadhyay UD, Chamany S, et al. Prevalence and control of diabetes and impaired fasting glucose in New York City. Diabetes Care 2008;31(11).

  8. Profile of New York City’s Asian Americans 2005–2007. New York; 2010. Accessed 15 March 2010.

  9. The International Association for the Study of Obesity, and The International Obesity Task Force. The Asia-Pacific perspective: redefining obesity and its treatment. The World Health Organization Western Pacific Region, 2000.

  10. Shai I, Jiang R, Manson JE, et al. Ethnicity, obesity, and risk of type 2 diabetes in women: a 20-year follow-up study. Diabetes Care. 2006;29(7):1585–90.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Razak F, Anand S, Vuksan V, et al. Ethnic differences in the relationships between obesity and glucose-metabolic abnormalities: a cross-sectional population-based study. Int J Obes (Lond). 2005;29(6):656–67.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Deurenberg P, Deurenberg-Yap M, Guricci S. Asians are different from Caucasians and from each other in their body mass index/body fat per cent relationship. Obes Rev. 2002;3(3):141–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Ohlson LO, Larsson B, Svardsudd K, et al. The influence of body fat distribution on the incidence of diabetes mellitus. 13.5 years of follow-up of the participants in the study of men born in 1913. Diabetes. 1985;34(10):1055–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Stern MP, Haffner SM. Body fat distribution and hyperinsulinemia as risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Arteriosclerosis. 1986;6(2):123–30.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Park YW, Allison DB, Heymsfield SB, et al. Larger amounts of visceral adipose tissue in Asian Americans. Obes Res. 2001;9(7):381–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Fujimoto WY, Bergstrom RW, Boyko EJ, et al. Susceptibility to development of central adiposity among populations. Obes Res. 1995;3(Suppl 2):179S–86S.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by NIH grants 5R01HL077809-04 and 5P60DK20541. The authors would like to thank Mindy Ginsberg and Xiaonan Xue for their help in data analyses.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Belfer 1308D, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Swapnil N. Rajpathak & Judith Wylie-Rosett

Authors
  1. Swapnil N. Rajpathak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Judith Wylie-Rosett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Swapnil N. Rajpathak.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rajpathak, S.N., Wylie-Rosett, J. High Prevalence of Diabetes and Impaired Fasting Glucose Among Chinese Immigrants in New York City. J Immigrant Minority Health 13, 181–183 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-010-9356-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-010-9356-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation