Awareness of diabetes risks is associated with healthy lifestyle behavior in diabetes free American adults: Evidence from a nationally representative sample

Ike S. Okosun, Monique Davis-Smith, J. Paul Seale

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine whether diabetes free healthy non-Hispanic Whites (NHW), non-Hispanic Blacks (NHB), and Mexican-Americans (MA) who are told of their diabetes risk were more likely to adopt healthy lifestyle behavior defined as current weight control, physical activity and reduced fat/calories intake than those who were not told that they were at increased risk. Methods: A nationally representative data (n = 5073) from the 2007-2008 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were used for this investigation. Odds ratio from multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine whether diabetes free NHW, NHB, and MA who are told of their increased diabetes risk were more likely than those who are not told of their diabetes risk to adopt healthy lifestyle behavior. Results: Being told of increased diabetes risk was associated with increased adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors as indicated by odds ratio of 2.38 (95% CI = 1.34-4.05) in NHW, 2.46 (95% CI = 1.20-5.05) in NHB and 2.27 (95% CI = 1.32-3.89) in MA who have no diabetes, after adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, hypertension, education, household income and total cholesterol. Conclusions: Awareness of increased risk for diabetes is associated with implementing healthy lifestyle behaviors in diabetes free healthy American adults. Population-based programs designed to assess and communicate diabetes risk may be helpful in preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes. Programs designed along racial/ethnic line may be needed to reduce racial/ethnic differences in rates of type 2 diabetes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)87-94
Number of pages8
JournalPrimary Care Diabetes
Volume6
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Behavioral modification
  • Risk communication
  • Risk reduction
  • Type 2 diabetes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Internal Medicine
  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
  • Nutrition and Dietetics

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