Racial, Ethnic Disparities Seen in Type 2 Diabetes After GDM

FRIDAY, Sept. 8, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Racial and ethnic inequities are considerable in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) after gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and characteristics at delivery partially explain these disparities, according to a study published online Sept. 11 in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Teresa Janevic, Ph.D., from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and colleagues estimated racial-ethnic disparities in T2DM following GDM in a retrospective cohort of 22,338 individuals with GDM.

The researchers found that the eight-year T2DM incidence was 11.7 percent overall and was 18.5, 16.8, 14.6, 5.5, and 5.4 percent in Black, South/Southeast Asian, Hispanic, East/Central Asian, and White individuals, respectively, with corresponding adjusted hazard ratios (95 percent confidence intervals) of 4.0 (2.4 to 3.9), 3.3 (2.7 to 4.2), 2.9 (2.4 to 3.3), and 1.0 (0.9 to 1.4) for each group compared with Whites. For Black, Hispanic, and South/Southeast Asian versus White disparities, clinical and social-structural pregnancy characteristics explained 9.3 and 23.8 percent, 31.2 and 24.7 percent, and 7.6 and 16.3 percent, respectively. Compared with Black, Hispanic, and South/Southeast Asian individuals, associations between education, Medicaid, WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) participation, and body mass index with T2DM were more pronounced among White individuals.

"While racial and ethnic inequities are substantial in type 2 diabetes after GDM, the weak associations we see of common social or structural measures and body mass index in Black, Hispanic, and South and Southeast Asian individuals demonstrate the need for greater understanding of how structural racism influences postpartum cardiometabolic risk in these groups," Janevic said in a statement.

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