ABSTRACT
Latinos are the fastest growing ethnic population in the United States and type 2 diabetes is a major health burden in this population, but little effort has been made to study the prevalence of diabetic vertebral fragility in Latinos. We performed a cross-sectional study to determine vertebral fracture prevalence in a hospital-based population of South Texas residents (N = 296). We defined fractures in X-rays as a >20% reduction in vertebral body height. Numerous variables were recorded, including age, body mass index, indicators of diabetes management and others. 71% of the sample (N = 296) was Latino. The prevalence of vertebral fracture was increased in diabetic subjects relative to non-diabetic subjects (diabetic 27.9%, non-diabetic 13.8%) and, regardless of sex and diabetics status, decreased in Latinos relative to non-Latinos (Latino 16.7%, non-Latino 26.4%). These data suggest that vertebral fractures may be a growing concern for diabetic Latinos as well as diabetics of any racial/ethnic background.
Subject(s)
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/epidemiology , Fractures, Spontaneous/epidemiology , Hispanic or Latino/statistics & numerical data , Spinal Fractures/epidemiology , Age Distribution , Aged , Ambulatory Care Facilities/statistics & numerical data , Chi-Square Distribution , Cohort Studies , Comorbidity , Confidence Intervals , Cross-Sectional Studies , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/diagnosis , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/ethnology , Female , Fractures, Spontaneous/diagnosis , Fractures, Spontaneous/ethnology , Hospitals/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Logistic Models , Male , Middle Aged , Odds Ratio , Prevalence , Prognosis , Registries , Sex Distribution , Spinal Fractures/diagnosis , Spinal Fractures/ethnology , Texas/epidemiologyABSTRACT
An 11-point (0-10) scale for measuring the degree of lethality of suicide attempts is presented. The scale has nine example "anchors" and uses the relative lethality of an extensive table of drugs. The psychometric studies show the scale to be of at least equal-interval, possibly even ratio measurement level. The equal-interval quality allows suicidal behaviors to be specified in numeric relationship to each other relieving us of the burden of using unquantified labels such as "mild," "moderate," and "serious." Having a standardized, commonly used reference scale should greatly facilitate our research and clinical efforts to communicate our findings. The scale can be used reliably by nonmedical personnel with no prior training.
