DIABETES AND RELATED METABOLIC RISK-FACTORS AMONG ARAB-AMERICANS

OBJECTIVE: TO estimate the incidence of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and associated metabolic abnormalities such as impair ed glucose tolerance, increased blood pressure, hyperinsulinemia, and obesity in the Arab-American community in the Detroit metropolitan are a. METHODS: Subjects were selected randomly from a computer-generated list provided by the Arab-American Center for Economic and Social Serv ices. Laboratory studies included a 2-hour, 75-g oral glucose toleranc e test with glucose, insulin, and C-peptide determinations. RESULTS: O f the 105 volunteers studied, 57 were women and 48 were men, Mean +/- SD age was 46.0 +/- 13.0 years. Body mass index was 30.4 +/- 6.8 kg/m( 2), with 68% of subjects having a body mass index of 27 kg/m(2) or mor e. Of the study participants, 33% had NIDDM, 8.6% had impaired glucose tolerance, and 58% had normal glucose tolerance. Subjects with diabet es, compared with subjects who had normal glucose tolerance, exhibited increased fasting insulin (98 +/- 69 vs 55 +/- 31 pmoL/L; p = 0.00056 ); higher cholesterol (6.03 +/- 1.03 vs 5.09 +/- 1.22 mmol/L; p = 0.00 073); marginally lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (0.98 +/- 0.21 vs 1.14 +/- 0.31 mmol/L; p = 0.054); higher triglycerides (7.84 /- 5.79 vs 3.83 +/- 2.15 mmol/L; p = 0.00002); and higher diastolic (8 3.7 +/- 8.9 vs 78.3 +/- 8.0 mm Hg; p = 0.014) as well as systolic (132 .5 +/- 16.0 vs 119.0 +/- 10.6 mm Hg; p = 0.00001) blood pressures. CON CLUSIONS: This pilot study demonstrates that diabetes may be a frequen t medical problem in the Arab-American community. A well-designed epid emiologic study is warranted to validate these results and to elucidat e the underlying mechanisms responsible for these findings.