Prevalence of Pre-Diabetes Among U.S. Adults by Race

Objective:The purpose of this study is to compare the prevalence of diagnosed pre-diabetes between Non-Hispanic (NH) White adults and NH Black adults.

Methods:The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a state-based surveillance system that utilizes a random-digit dialing protocol to survey a sample of non-institutionalized U.S. adults.  The BRFSS measures the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes and state-level estimates are available each year. A pre-diabetes module was added in 2008 and utilized in 25 states. Adults age 18 and over who were not diagnosed with diabetes and had been tested for diabetes in the past three years were included in the analysis (n=92,463).

Results:are weighted and age-standardized to reflect population estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CI) are reported. Results The age-standardized prevalence of diagnosed pre-diabetes did not vary significantly between NH White adults 8.27% (95% CI: 7.87%-8.69%) and NH Black adults 7.93% (95% CI: 7.01%-8.96%). Between the two races, there was also no significant difference in the mean age of adults diagnosed with pre-diabetes.

Conclusion:Although the prevalence of pre-diabetes in this study is lower than rates published using other nationally representative data sets (due to low screening rates in the general population), the racial comparisons are similar. It remains unclear why estimated rates of diabetes are higher among NH Black adults in the U.S., but estimated rates of pre-diabetes have recently been shown to be similar to NH Whites. Longitudinal studies on the pathophysiology of pre-diabetes in different race groups may be needed to explain these patterns.