AN ASSESSMENT OF ACCULTURATION ON DIABETES TYPE II OUTCOMESAMONG MEXICAN AMERICANS

Objective. To evaluate the relationship between low and high levels of acculturation and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) standards of diabetes care on Mexican Americans. Background. Evidence suggests a possible relationship between acculturation and certain health outcomes. The effect of acculturation on Mexican Americans and diabetes standards of care is not well documented. Methods. Demographic and clinical data of individuals self-reported as Mexican American aged e20 years with T2DM were obtained from the NHANES federal database (2001-2002 and 29 20032004 cohorts). Preference of Spanish or English language use as a child, at home, with friends, thinking, reading or speaking was used as proxy for acculturation and was categorized into high (English preference) and low (Spanish preference). Select standards of diabetes care included control of hemoglobin A1c, medication use and prevalence of eye disease. Chi-squared and independent t-tests were used to compare outcomes across acculturation level (alpha=5%). Results. 85 Mexican Americans were included: 40 with low and 45 with high acculturation. Overall, the mean age was 62.5+/-12.2 years, and 49.4% were female (p \u3e 0.05 for all baseline characteristic comparisons). The mean A1c was 7.3+/1.7% and 7.6+/-1.8% and achieving A1c goal of \u3c 6.5% was 40% and 40% for low and high acculturation. Those currently on insulin were 15% and 22.2% and oral antidiabetic pills were 85% and 68.2% and with retinopathy were 22.5% and 28.9% for low and high acculturation, respectively (p\u3e0.05 for all comparisons). Conclusion. No relationship between acculturation and select diabetes outcomes was found. Language preference may not reflect true acculturation level. Grants. No funding was obtained for this stud