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Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes by Place of Birth in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

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Abstract

Incidence of diabetes among US foreign-born individuals is not well studied. Data were from the Multi Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine diabetes risk by race/ethnicity, place of birth, and duration of residence among foreign-born. Foreign-born Latinos had a higher risk of incident diabetes compared to US-born Latinos (hazard ratio (HR) 1.79 [95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.00–3.21]). Latinos born in Mexico (HR, 2.26 [95 % CI, 1.18–4.33]) had higher risk of incident diabetes compared to US-born Latinos. Foreign-born living in the US ≥20 years had a higher adjusted risk of incident diabetes compared to those in the US for <20 years (HR, 1.60 [95 % CI, 1.05–2.55]). Incident diabetes may be higher among foreign-born compared to native born; incident diabetes may also be higher among those immigrants who have lived in the US for longer periods of time. Future studies should characterize individuals by race/ethnicity and place of birth to account for differences in biology and time spent in the US.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by contracts N01-HC-95159 through N01-HC-95169 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, Maryland). The authors thank the other investigators, the staff, and the participants of the MESA study for their valuable contributions. A full list of participating MESA investigators and institutions can be found at the following Web site: http://www.mesa-nhlbi.org.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 700 Children’s Drive, Columbus, OH, 43205, USA

    Reena Oza-Frank

  2. Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Reena Oza-Frank

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Cheeling Chan & Kiang Liu

  4. Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Gregory Burke

  5. Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Alka M. Kanaya

Authors
  1. Reena Oza-Frank
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  2. Cheeling Chan
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  3. Kiang Liu
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  4. Gregory Burke
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  5. Alka M. Kanaya
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Correspondence to Reena Oza-Frank.

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Oza-Frank, R., Chan, C., Liu, K. et al. Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes by Place of Birth in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). J Immigrant Minority Health 15, 918–924 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9683-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9683-6

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