Neighborhood Socioeconomic Change and Diabetes Risk: Findings from the Chicago Childhood Diabetes Registry

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether patterns in socioeconomic characteristics in Chicago over a 30-year period are associated with neighborhood distribution of youth diabetes risk. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Incident cases of diabetes in youth aged 0–17 years were identified from the Chicago Childhood Diabetes Registry between 1994 and 2003. Those with a type 2 diabetes–like clinical course or related indicators were classified as non–type 1 diabetic; the remaining cases were considered to have type 1 diabetes. RESULTS: Compared with stable diversity neighborhoods, significant associations for type 1 diabetes were found for younger children residing in emerging low-income neighborhoods (relative risk 0.56 [95% CI 0.36–0.90]) and older children residing in emerging high-income neighborhoods (1.52 [1.17–1.98]). For non–type 1 diabetes, older youth residing in desertification neighborhoods were at increased risk (1.47 [1.09–1.99]). CONCLUSIONS: Neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics in Chicago may be associated with the risk of diabetes in youth.