The obesity epidemic and rising diabetes incidence in a low-income racially diverse southern US cohort

Abstract

Background Obesity is known to be a major risk factor for diabetes, but the magnitude of risk and variation between blacks and whites are less well documented in populations heavily affected by obesity. Herein we assess rates and risks of incident diabetes in a diverse southern population where obesity is common. Methods A total of 24,000 black and 14,064 white adults aged 40–79 in the Southern Community Cohort Study with no self-reported diabetes at study enrollment during 2002–2009 was followed for up to 10 (median 4.5) years. Incidence rates, odds ratios (OR) and accompanying 95% confidence intervals (CI) for medication-treated incident diabetes were determined according to body mass index (BMI) and other characteristics, including tobacco and alcohol consumption, healthy eating and physical activity indices, and socioeconomic status (SES). Results Risk of incident diabetes rose monotonically with increasing BMI, but the trends differed between blacks and whites (pinteraction