People in socioeconomically deprived areas likelier to suffer from diabetes and obesity

Researchers have claimed that living in a socioeconomically deprived region is a risk factor for being affected by diabetes mellitus and obesity.

Researchers from Institute of Health Economics and Health Care Management (IGM) at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen (HMGU) and the Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin, found that it holds true regardless of the individual social status of the inhabitants.

Under the leadership of Werner Maier in a team headed by Dr. Andreas Mielck and Professor Dr. Rolf Holle at the HMGU, the group of authors evaluated data from more than 33,000 people aged 30 years or more who participated in the RKI's German telephone health interview surveys "German Health Update(GEDA)" in 2009 and 2010.

Residents of socioeconomically deprived regions suffer disproportionately from diabetes and overweight. This geographical influence is referred to as "regional deprivation".

It was determined based on the "German Index of Multiple Deprivation" (GIMD) which is formed from regionally available information on income, employment, education, municipal or district revenue, social capital, environment and security in a defined area.

In addition to the GIMD, the data analysis also took into consideration individual risk factors such as age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, physical activity, education and living with a partner.

In the most deprived regions, the frequency of type 2 diabetes was 8.6 percent among those interviewed and that of obesity was 16.9 percent, compared to 5.8 and 13.7 percent, respectively, among those interviewed in regions that are only slightly deprived.