About three years ago, my aunt who died recently of a heart attack (she was 49, I have another aunt who also just passed when she was mid-30's from a ruptured aneurysm/stroke) posted an article on a study done on Filipinos in Hawai'i linking a genetic trait that increases risk for diabetes later on in life.
PS There was also a thread by easy772 about 'genetic disease' risk for Pinoys I think, and this is one of the ones I put there.
Over the years I've read many studies of link of diabetic risks on Filipinos but this LA Times article on "Doctors' message to Asian Americans: Watch out for diabetes even if you're young and thin" that circulated just today. And study show...unsurprisingly the highest prevalence of diabetes are with Pinoys.
[url] http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-asian-americans-diabetes-20160419-story.html [/url]
by Soumya Karlamangla
[IMG] http://www.trbimg.com/img-571584ce/turbine/la-me-g-asian-american-diabetes-20160418/750/750x422 [/IMG]
"We began with diabetes is not a big problem in the Asian community" to now thinking "simply being Asian is a risk factor," said Dr. Edward Chow, an internist who has worked in San Francisco's Chinatown since the 1970s.
As Americans put on weight over the last two decades, diabetes rates more than doubled. Scientists have long known that obesity is closely linked to diabetes, but newer research shows the picture is more complicated.
In Los Angeles County, Asian American adults have the lowest obesity rate of any ethnic group, at 9%, compared with 18% of whites and 29% of Latinos and blacks.
"You would think … Asians would have the lowest diabetes rate," said Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer with the L.A. County Department of Public Health.
But 10% of Asian Americans in L.A. County are diabetic, compared with 7% of whites, despite Asian Americans' drastically lower obesity levels."
Here are other studies related to this (most likely a genetic affinity towards diabetes):
Study A (2006): Pinays and diabetes: they studied Pinays in PI, San Diego and Hawai'i. Consistently, hyperglycemia 10+% (11%, 14.1%, 14.7% respectively). Type II is twice, and similar among American Pinays San Diego (31.6%) and Hawaii (24.9%)
[url] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1383725/ [/url]
"This analysis showed that although one-fourth of Filipinas in Hawaii had a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2,[B] no difference in type 2 diabetes prevalence was observed compared to Filipinas in San Diego. Further, despite the significantly smaller BMI of women in the Philippines, the risk of fasting hyperglycemia [U]did not differ regionally[/U].[/B] Although environmental factors appear to have contributed to increased obesity and hypertension among Filipina immigrants and first generation Filipina–Americans, [B]our findings suggest that Filipino women in the Philippines and the US may have [U]diabetogenic[/U] factors that operate independent of obesity[/B]."
[B]Conclusions[/B]
Despite regional differences in obesity, fasting hyperglycemia was similar among Filipinas in the Philippines, San Diego, and Hawaii and type 2 diabetes prevalence was similar among Filipinas in San Diego and Hawaii.
Study B (2001) Filipinos in Texas statistics (American Diabetes Association)
[url] http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/24/12/2054.full [/url]
"RESULTS—Overall prevalence was estimated to be 16.1% (95% CI 13.5–18.7). Multivariate logistic regression analyses identified independent risk factors: increasing age from ages 35–44 years (odds ratio [OR] 5.6, 95% CI 1.5–20.5) to 65–74 years (34.2, 7.2–163.0); male sex (1.8, 1.1–32.1); family history of diabetes (4.7, 2.6–8.5); obesity (3.6, 1.4–9.0); region of birth, Mindanao (3.2, 1.3–7.7); and, among women, gestational diabetes (21.7, 6.7–69.7) and low income (5.3, 1.4–20.2).
CONCLUSIONS—The study observed a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes and supports earlier studies suggesting that Filipinos are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes than the U.S. non-Hispanic white population."
Discussion:
"The mean BMI of the NHANES II diabetic population was 28.1 kg/m2 (21); the mean BMI of the diabetic group in this survey was lower (26.1 kg/m2). Furthermore, the proportion of participants in the NHANES II diabetic population who were obese was higher, particularly among women, compared with the diabetic Filipino-Americans. [B]Obesity is prevalent in ethnic minorities, but obesity alone does not explain the increased prevalence of diabetes (22). Genetics and factors other than obesity must be affecting the diabetes risk in this generally nonobese Filipino-American population. Because of their inherent genetic predisposition to diabetes, it may be that Asians are particularly susceptible to changes accompanying migration and Westernization[/B]."
Study C (2007): Diabetes and heard disease study. This one is from California...mainly linking poverty/education = malnutrition at early age (they're using height esp. the length of legs, the biggest bone in the body with nutrition and proper growth) = underdevelopment of pancreas = higher likelihood of diabetes as adults. It also talks about 'unhealthy lifestyle' factors and only sorta touched genetics.
[url] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2542981/ [/url]
"Introduction:
Early chronic or intermittent malnutrition, leading to impaired development of the endocrine system and followed by exposure to a Western diet with an abundance of food, has been suggested to be responsible for the greater levels of metabolic disorders in immigrant populations. (6) In addition to genetic influences on height, early malnutrition limits growth and results in shorter adult stature and Filipinas in the US are of shorter height compared to Caucasian American women. (7) [B]Poor growth, particularly of the long bones of the legs in the first years of life, has been shown to be associated with insulin resistance and CHD, (8-12) and may contribute to an increased risk of diabetes and CHD in Filipina-Americans[/B].**
Results:
"A total 389 women fulfilled our inclusion criteria, representing 85.7% of the total sample. Characteristics of the sample are shown in table 1. In age adjusted analyses, total body height, leg and trunk length all differed according to education, childhood and adult income, life-course socioeconomic position and birth year category, with the most advantaged women and those born before the war being the tallest (data not shown). For example, women with poor childhood family income were on average 1.52m tall, compared to 1.53m in those with average income or 1.55m in the well-off group (p=0.008). All differences were statistically significant except for leg length by birth year or education. [B]In contrast, education was the only measure that was strongly and significantly associated with BMI and waist circumference (p<0.008 and 0.0004, respectively), with less educated women having a greater BMI and larger waist[/B]."
Discussion:
As also evident in this sample of Filipino-American women, the overall prevalence of diabetes in this population is greatly increased, (5) similar to other immigrant populations. (25) [B]Unlike cohorts where diabetes prevalence is higher in migrant than native populations, the diabetes prevalence in this study is similar to that of women in the Philippines, and longer term migrants and US born Filipinas in Hawaii.[/B] *** (26;27)[B] Socioeconomic disadvantage from child to adulthood was strongly and linearly associated with diabetes in this study[/B], in addition to the effects of family history and waist circumference..."
Note:
** The statistics show that Filipinos are one of the shortest people in SEA...possibly linked to malnutrition.
[url] http://globalnation.inquirer.net/102688/filipinos-second-shortest-in-southeast-asia [/url]
[/IMG]*** This is noting the first study I posted (Study A): "This analysis showed that although one-fourth of Filipinas in Hawaii had a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2,[B] no difference in type 2 diabetes prevalence was observed compared to Filipinas in San Diego. Further, despite the significantly smaller BMI of women in the Philippines, the risk of fasting hyperglycemia [U]did not differ regionally[/U]." Essentially saying that despite regional differences Pinoys with less obesity and regional difference (ie Philippines vs. US pinoys and different locations in the US) is consistently similar with diabetes risks.
What do you think? Do you think this is genetic, cultural (lifestyle, food, habits), economic (ie malnutrition, immigration) or all the above? Do you have a relative who have/had diabetes?
