[Social inequities and diabetes among adolescents]

Diseases are not randomly distributed across society. Although the results of several studies consistently report higher occurrence of diabetes among disadvantaged groups in adult populations, rather sparse and contradictory findings have been reported for the young.

To explore whether the distribution of self reported diabetes among high school students from the Province of Santiago is associated to their socioeconomic position.

Data originated from a randomly selected sample of 9,203 Chilean high school students. Students answered questionnaires on demographic variables; self reported diabetes status; and several dimensions of social position. We used logistic regression analyses to study the association between diabetic status and the variables 'number of cars owned by the family'; 'paternal income' (in Chilean pesos); and 'maternal' and 'paternal achieved education'.

Univariate analyses suggest the existence of social gradients for the variables number of cars owned and parental education. Multivariable [corrected] analyses indicate that paternal achieved education is the most influential variable. Students coming from families in which the father has only primary school education, are significantly more likely to report having diabetes (odds ratio=2.03 confidence intervals 1.02-4.04).

In this adolescent population, there is a positive association between several indicators of socioeconomic position and reported diabetes.