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Adverse Housing Conditions Contribute to Diabetes Risk |
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From Washington University: Studying people in their homes and neighborhoods, investigators have found that poor housing conditions contribute to the risk for diabetes in urban, middle-aged African-Americans. A team of investigators from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Indiana University School of Medicine and other institutions conducted the study. "We looked at several risk factors to see if they could explain why some African-Americans were more likely to develop diabetes," explains Mario Schootman, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology and medicine and chief of the Division of Health Behavior Research at Washington University. Individuals who live in poor housing conditions may be more likely to be under stress as a function of where they live. Interviewers spoke to participants in their homes. They gathered data about health status, access to medical care and demographic characteristics, but they also were trained to look for certain things in neighborhoods and houses. "It's not clear exactly how housing conditions are exerting this influence," says senior author Douglas K. Miller, M.D., the Richard M. Fairbanks Professor in Aging Research and Regenstrief Institute research scientist at Indiana University School of Medicine. In the original study, researchers looked at several factors responsible for the higher incidence of health problems experienced by later middle-aged and older African-Americans living in St. Louis. Schootman M, Andresen EM, Wolinsky FD, Malmstrom TK, Miller JP, Yan Y, Miller DK. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
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