Chronic diseases surveillance of St. Regis Mohawk Health Service patients

A study of the distribution of some chronic diseases among the Akwesasne Mohawks was performed using computerized medical records of the St. Regis Mohawk Health Services Clinic. Prevalence proportions, annual incidence rates, and five-year incidence rates were computed for the period January 1, 1992 to January 1, 1997 for asthma, diabetes mellitus type II, hypothyroidism, and osteoarthritis. Hypothyroidism and diabetes showed higher age-specific prevalence than in the general U.S. population. Osteoarthritis was extremely frequent among people 60 years of age and older, and it may also be elevated in prevalence in relation to the U.S. general population. The incidence and prevalence trends of diabetes type II and osteoarthritis were stationary, but those for asthma and hypothyroidism showed increases over the study period. Morbidity from asthma and acquired hypothyroidism should be monitored in the future and investigated through analytic epidemiologic methods for a possible association with lifestyle and environmental factors.