Prevalence of Diabetes in New York City, 2002–2008: Comparing foreign-born South Asians and other Asians with U.S.-born whites, blacks, and Hispanics

OBJECTIVE: To describe diabetes prevalence in New York City by race/ethnicity and nativity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data were from the New York City 2002–2008 Community Health Surveys. Respondents were categorized on the basis of self-reported race/ethnicity and birth country: foreign-born South Asian (Indian subcontinent), foreign-born other Asian, U.S.-born non-Hispanic black, U.S.-born non-Hispanic white, and U.S.-born Hispanic. Diabetes status was defined by self-reported provider diagnosis. Multivariable models examined diabetes prevalence by race/ethnicity and birth country. RESULTS: Prevalence among foreign-born South Asians was nearly twice that of foreign-born other Asians (13.6 vs. 7.4%, P = 0.001). In multivariable analyses, normal-BMI foreign-born South Asians had nearly five times the diabetes prevalence of comparable U.S.-born non-Hispanic whites (14.1 vs. 2.9%, P < 0.001) and 2.5 times higher prevalence than foreign-born other Asians (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Evaluating Asians as one group masks the higher diabetes burden among South Asians. Researchers and clinicians should be aware of differences in this population.