Type 2 diabetes mellitus among youth in Puerto Rico, 2003

AIMS: To describe the clinical characteristics, and estimate the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus among Puerto Rican youth, 1995-2003. METHODS: All patients aged less than 20 years with a confirmed diagnosis of type 2 diabetes were identified from pediatric endocrinologists' medical practices. Medical records of each patient were reviewed to confirm the diagnosis, classify the type of diabetes, and gather sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. From 1995 to 2003 a total of 32,444 records were reviewed. A total of 2,800 children with diabetes were identified, of which 2,702 were type 1 and 93 type 2; typel/type 2 ratio was 29:1. Frequency distributions were obtained for categorical variables, and summary measures (mean +/- standard deviation) for quantitative measure were computed. RESULTS: Mean age at first visit was 14 years. The majority of cases were females (69), for a female/ male ratio of 2.2:1. 78.5had a family history of the disease, 74.2were overweight, and 48had acanthosis nigricans. 64.5of the cases were receiving some type of hypoglycemic therapy. 18.5of the cases had severe hypertension while 17.5had cholesterol levels considered at increased risk (e[quot ]200). The overall prevalence was 13.5 per 100,000 population. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first that describes the frequency and clinical presentation of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents in a sample of Puerto Ricans. Further investigations must be conducted to obtain a more precise estimate of the burden of type 2 diabetes in youth and to raise awareness of this condition among health care professionals.

Health disparities between diabetic patients under private and public health coverage in Puerto Rico, 2000

OBJECTIVE: To examine health disparities between diabetic patients receiving services in private and public health sectors. METHODS: Insureds with service claims for diabetes (ICD-9 250-259) from two private insurance companies and two public health groups were selected. Personnel of the participant insurance companies were responsible for identifying medical claims that met the study inclusion criteria and providing the information in a computerized database file. RESULTS: Overall prevalence was 4.9%. Prevalence in the public sector (5.8%) was higher than that of the private sector (3.7%) (p < 0.0001). The overall prevalence among females of the public sector was nearly twice (6.3%) the prevalence in the private sector (3.3%) (p < 0.0001). The prevalence of the majority of services analyzed was larger in the public sector. However, prevalence of specific services (glucose and glycosilated hemoglobin tests) was larger in the private sector. Differences between sectors in the prevalence of complications were also observed. Prevalence and service utilization also varied by age and sex in both sectors. CONCLUSIONS: Significant difference exists in the prevalence of diabetes and health service utilization between the private and the public sector.