Sept. 7 (UPI) — Black and Mexican adults in the United States are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at a younger age than White adults, a study published Tuesday by JAMA Internal Medicine found.
Most Black and Mexican people receive a diabetes diagnosis in the mid-40s, while White people are typically diagnosed in their early 50s, the data showed.
Adults with Type 2 diabetes in the United States are typically diagnosed with the disease about age 50, the researchers said.
“The earlier someone develops diabetes, the greater risk for complications related to diabetes and dying at a younger age,” study co-author Dr. Sadiya S. Khan told UPI in an email.
“There are many systemic and structural factors that are likely driving the trends we observe and studies need to focus on identifying these factors,” said Khan, an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
About 30 million people in the United States have Type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the body produces insufficient levels of insulin to process sugars, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Around 13% of Black and Hispanic adults nationally have been diagnosed with the disease, compared to just under 8% of White people in the United States, research indicates.
People in these racial and ethnic groups are believed to be at increased risk for Type 2 diabetes due to higher rates of obesity, or being severely overweight, according to the National Institutes of Health.
For this study, Khan and her colleagues reviewed data on age at diagnosis for more than 3,000 adults with Type 2 diabetes in the United States.
Most of the Black participants in the study were diagnosed with the disease around age 45, while the majority of Mexican participants were diagnosed around age 47, the data showed.
The majority of White study participants received a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis at about age 52, while most Asian American adults in the study were diagnosed at around age 51.
About 35% of Mexican adults and 25% of Black adults in the study were diagnosed with the disease at age 40 or younger, according to the researchers.
And fewer than15% of White adult study participants were diagnosed at age 40 or younger.
“Many young adults, particularly those who are … Black or Hispanic and are younger than 40, 35 and 30 may benefit from screening for diabetes,” Khan said.