The Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in a Wisconsin Hmong Patient Population

Wisconsin's largest Asian population, the Hmong, may be at high risk for type 2 diabetes. However, there are few population-based studies investigating the prevalence of diabetes in this population. This study compared the prevalence of diabetes between Hmong and non-Hispanic white patients of the University of Wisconsin departments of family medicine, pediatrics, and internal medicine clinics.

The study utilized data from the University of Wisconsin Electronic Health Record Public Health Information Exchange (UW eHealth--PHINEX). The proportion of Hmong patients diagnosed with diabetes was compared with the prevalence of diabetes in non-Hispanic white patients. Multivariate logistic regression was used to control for the differences in age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and health insurance between the two populations.

The total prevalence of diabetes in the Hmong patient population was 11.3% compared to 6.0% in the non-Hispanic white patient population (P < 0.001). The prevalence of diabetes in Hmong adult patients was 19.1% compared to 7.8% in white adult patients (P =< 0.001). Compared with non-Hispanic whites, the odds ratio (95% CI) for diabetes, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and insurance was 3.3 (2.6-4.1) for Hmong patients.

Despite being one of Wisconsin's newest immigrant populations, who came from an area of the world with low rates of diabetes, the adjusted relative odds of diabetes in this clinic sample of Hmong patients is 3.3 times higher than its non-Hispanic white counterpart. The results support previous findings of significantly increased diabetes risk in the Hmong of Wisconsin.