Patients diagnosed with diabetes at a younger age may face an increased risk of cardiovascular disease or death. A research team out of Chicago examined eight years of data to learn more about this association, publishing its findings in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The study's authors explored data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, tracking 3,022 adults who participated from January 2011 to December 2018. The mean patient age was 61.1 years old. Patients with a probable diagnosis of type 1 diabetes were excluded.
"Self-reported race/ethnicity was assessed as a social construct to investigate health disparities," wrote lead author Michael C. Wang, an MD candidate at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and colleagues.
All participants self-reported their history of diabetes, including their age at diagnosis. Overall, the mean age at diabetes diagnosis was 49.9 years old.
Compared to non-Hispanic White patients, (51.8 years old), Mexican American (47.2 years old) and non-Hispanic Black patients (44.9 years old) reported a substantially younger mean age at diagnosis. However, the mean age for non-Hispanic Asian patients was 50.5 years old.
Also, more than one in four non-Hispanic Black and Mexican American patients said they were diagnosed before the age of 40. A diagnosis at such an early age was only seen in 14.4% of non-Hispanic white patients.
"Earlier age at diabetes diagnosis among non-Hispanic Black and Mexican American adults is attributable to a combination of clinical, behavioral, and social factors and may potentially contribute to observed disparities in diabetes-related microvascular and macrovascular complications and premature mortality," the authors concluded. "Accordingly, there may be benefit to initiating intensive lifestyle changes starting earlier in adulthood. Efforts to prevent and manage diabetes earlier in the life course may help reduce the substantial premature morbidity and mortality associated with diabetes."
Read the full research letter here.