[Utilization of outpatient medical services and satisfaction with care in children and adolescents with a migration background-results of the KiGGS study]. / Inanspruchnahme ambulant ärztlicher Leistungen und Zufriedenheit mit der Versorgung bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Migrationshintergrund ­ Ergebnisse der KiGGS-Studie.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Reasons for lower use of medical services by children and adolescents with migration background have not yet been investigated. The aim is therefore to identify factors that are related to the utilization of outpatient medical care and subjective patient satisfaction as well as explain differences according to migration background. METHODS: On the basis of the "German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents" (KiGGS, baseline study: 2003-2006), in which 17,640 children and adolescents participated, prevalences with 95% confidence intervals as well as multivariate binary logistic regression analyzes on the relationship between migration background, country of origin, the use of outpatient medical care services in the last 12 months, and satisfaction with the last medical treatment were calculated. RESULTS: Children up to age 13 with two-sided migration background had lower utilization of specialist doctors compared to those without migration background (OR = 0.64 [0.56-0.74]). However, among the 14- to 17-year-olds, the utilization did not differ significantly (OR = 0.79 [0.60-1.03]). The lower use of outpatient medical care is associated with a shorter length of stay and limited German language skills. In addition, parents from Poland and the former Soviet Union are less likely to be very satisfied with the last outpatient treatment of their 0­ to 13-year-old child, even after adjustments for German language skills and length of stay. CONCLUSION: To make it easier for children with migration background to access specialist services, it is important to reduce language barriers in outpatient medical care and to promote processes of intercultural opening.

Dietary Patterns Derived by Reduced Rank Regression Are Inversely Associated with Type 2 Diabetes Risk across 5 Ethnic Groups in the Multiethnic Cohort.

Background: Reduced rank regression (RRR) is an approach to identify dietary patterns associated with biochemical markers and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Objective: We aimed to derive dietary patterns associated with adiponectin, leptin, C-reactive protein (CRP), and triglycerides (TGs) and to examine the prospective associations of these patterns with T2D risk in 5 ethnic/racial groups with differences in T2D rates. Methods: The Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) included 215,831 African-American, Japanese-American, Latino, Native Hawaiian, and white adults living in Hawaii and California who completed a validated quantitative food-frequency questionnaire in 1993-1996. T2D status was based on self-report with confirmation by administrative data. Serum CRP and TGs and plasma adiponectin and leptin were measured ∼10 y after baseline in a subset (n = 10,008) of participants. RRR was applied to dietary data and biomarker information of 10,008 MEC participants in the combined population and in each ethnic/racial group. RRR-derived dietary patterns, simplified by removal of foods that were not found to be important, were subsequently evaluated for association with T2D risk in 155,316 cohort members (8687 incident T2D cases diagnosed by 2010) by using Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: Combining ethnic/racial groups, we identified a dietary pattern low in processed and red meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, diet soft drinks, and white rice and high in whole grains, fruit, yellow-orange vegetables, green vegetables, and low-fat dairy that was inversely associated with CRP, TGs, and leptin and positively related to adiponectin. Comparing extreme tertiles, the dietary pattern predicted a 16-28% significantly lower T2D risk in the combined study population and also separately in African Americans, Japanese Americans, Latinos, Native Hawaiians, and whites. Ethnicity-specific derived patterns varied only modestly from the overall pattern and resulted in comparable associations with T2D. Conclusion: This identified dietary pattern may lower T2D risk through its impact on adipokines, by lowering chronic inflammation and dyslipidemia across 5 ethnic/racial groups.

A Dietary Pattern Derived by Reduced Rank Regression is Associated with Type 2 Diabetes in An Urban Ghanaian Population.

Reduced rank regression (RRR) is an innovative technique to establish dietary patterns related to biochemical risk factors for type 2 diabetes, but has not been applied in sub-Saharan Africa. In a hospital-based case-control study for type 2 diabetes in Kumasi (diabetes cases, 538; controls, 668) dietary intake was assessed by a specific food frequency questionnaire. After random split of our study population, we derived a dietary pattern in the training set using RRR with adiponectin, HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides as responses and 35 food items as predictors. This pattern score was applied to the validation set, and its association with type 2 diabetes was examined by logistic regression. The dietary pattern was characterized by a high consumption of plantain, cassava, and garden egg, and a low intake of rice, juice, vegetable oil, eggs, chocolate drink, sweets, and red meat; the score correlated positively with serum triglycerides and negatively with adiponectin. The multivariate-adjusted odds ratio of type 2 diabetes for the highest quintile compared to the lowest was 4.43 (95% confidence interval: 1.87-10.50, p for trend < 0.001). The identified dietary pattern increases the odds of type 2 diabetes in urban Ghanaians, which is mainly attributed to increased serum triglycerides.

Vitamin A: potential misclassification of vitamin A status among patients with type 2 diabetes and hypertension in urban Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Sub-Saharan Africa is facing a double burden of malnutrition: vitamin A deficiency (VAD) prevails, whereas the nutrition-related chronic conditions type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension are emerging. Serum retinol­a VAD marker­increases in kidney disease and decreases in inflammation, which can partly be attributed to alterations in the vitamin A-transport proteins retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) and prealbumin. Kidney dysfunction and inflammation commonly accompany T2D and hypertension. OBJECTIVE: Among urban Ghanaians, we investigated the associations of T2D and hypertension with serum retinol as well as the importance of kidney function and inflammation in this regard. DESIGN: A hospital-based, case-control study in individuals for risk factors of T2D, hypertension, or both was conducted in Kumasi, Ghana (328 controls, 197 with T2D, 354 with hypertension, and 340 with T2D plus hypertension). In 1219 blood samples, serum retinol, RBP4, and prealbumin were measured. Urinary albumin and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) defined kidney function. C-reactive protein (CRP) >5 mg/L indicated inflammation. We identified associations of T2D and hypertension with retinol by linear regression and calculated the contribution of RBP4, prealbumin, urinary albumin, eGFR, and CRP to these associations as the percentages of the explained variance of retinol. RESULTS: VAD (retinol <1.05 µmol/L) was present in 10% of this predominantly female, middle-aged, overweight, and deprived population. Hypertension, but not T2D, was positively associated with retinol (ß: 0.12; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.17), adjusted for age, sex, socioeconomic factors, anthropometric measurements, and lifestyle. In addition to RBP4 (72%) and prealbumin (22%), the effect of increased retinol on individuals with hypertension was mainly attributed to impaired kidney function (eGFR: 30%; urinary albumin: 5%) but not to inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with hypertension, VAD might be underestimated because of increased serum retinol in the context of kidney dysfunction. Thus, the interpretation of serum retinol in sub-Saharan Africa should account for hypertension status.

Dietary patterns in urban Ghana and risk of type 2 diabetes.

There is epidemiological evidence for associations between dietary patterns and type 2 diabetes. However, for sub-Saharan Africa, information on dietary patterns and their contribution to diabetes is lacking. The aim of the present study was to identify dietary patterns and their associations with type 2 diabetes in an urban Ghanaian population. In a hospital-based case-control study on risk factors for type 2 diabetes in Kumasi, a FFQ was administered to 675 controls and 542 cases. Dietary patterns were identified by using factor analysis including thirty-three food items. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the associations of dietary patterns with type 2 diabetes. Overall, two dietary patterns were identified: (1) a 'purchase' dietary pattern which positively correlated with the consumption of sweets, rice, meat, fruits and vegetables and (2) a 'traditional' dietary pattern that correlated with the intake of fruits, plantain, green leafy vegetables, fish, fermented maize products and palm oil. In the highest quintile of the 'purchase' dietary pattern, participants were younger, leaner and of higher socio-economic status than those in the lower quintiles. In contrast, participants in the highest quintile of the 'traditional' dietary pattern were older, heavier and more deprived compared with those in the lower quintiles. In the multivariate model, the 'purchase' dietary pattern was inversely associated with type 2 diabetes (OR per 1 sd 0·41, 95% CI 0·33, 0·50); the 'traditional' dietary pattern increased the odds of diabetes per 1 sd by 54% (95% CI 1·35, 1·81). In conclusion, two diverse dietary patterns were identified and associated with type 2 diabetes in urban Ghana. The determinants of pattern adherence require further investigation.

The TCF7L2 rs7903146 (T) allele is associated with type 2 diabetes in urban Ghana: a hospital-based case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is increasing dramatically in sub-Saharan Africa, and genetic predisposition is likely involved in that. Yet, genetic variants known to confer increased susceptibility among Caucasians are far from being established in African populations. In Ghanaian adults, we examined associations of several of these polymorphisms with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: A hospital-based case-control study on type 2 diabetes (and hypertension) was conducted in Kumasi, Ghana. TCF7L2 rs7903146, KCNJ11 rs5219, PPARγ rs1801282 and CAPN10 rs3842570, rs3792267, and rs5030952 were typed and associations with type 2 diabetes and phenotypic traits examined. RESULTS: 675 patients with type 2 diabetes and 377 controls were compared. The minor allele frequency of the TCF7L2 (T) allele was 0.33. In the multivariate model, this allele increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 39% (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.07-1.81; p = 0.014). The minor alleles KCNJ11 (G) and PPARγ (G) were practically absent (each, 0.001). Minor allele frequencies of CAPN10 were for -43 (A) 0.11 and for -63 (C) 0.46. These variants showed no significant associations with type 2 diabetes. Two CAPN10 haplotypes tended to protect against type 2 diabetes: 211 (aOR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.03-1.92; p = 0.31) and 221 (aOR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.48-1.10; p = 0.13). CONCLUSIONS: In urban Ghana, the frequency of the TCF7L2 rs7903146 (T) allele is comparable to the one in Caucasians; the association with type 2 diabetes is slightly weaker. The risk allele KCNJ11 (G) and the protective allele PPARγ (G) are virtually absent. The potential influence of comparatively rare CAPN10 haplotypes on type 2 diabetes risk in this population requires further evaluation. Large-scale genetic studies among native Africans aiming at fine-mapping the candidate genes are needed to identify the actual factors involved in their increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes.

Measures of general and central obesity and risk of type 2 diabetes in a Ghanaian population.

OBJECTIVE: The epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes is evident in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, their associations have hardly been examined in this region. METHODS: A hospital-based case-control study in urban Ghana consisting of 1221 adults (542 cases and 679 controls) investigated the role of anthropometric parameters for diabetes. Logistic regression was used for analysis. The discriminative power and population-specific cut-off points for diabetes were identified by receiver operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: The strongest association with diabetes was observed for waist-to-hip ratio: age-adjusted odds ratios per 1 standard deviation difference were 1.95 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.64-2.31) in women and 1.40 [1.01-1.94] in men. Also, among women, the odds of diabetes increased with higher waist circumference (1.35 [1.17-1.57]) and waist-to-height ratio (1.29 [1.12-1.50]). Among men, this was not discernible. Rather, hip circumference was inversely related (0.69 [0.50-0.95]). Body mass index was neither associated with diabetes in women (1.01 [0.88-1.15]) nor in men (0.74 [0.52-1.04]). Among both genders, waist-to-hip ratio showed the best discriminative ability for diabetes in this population and the optimal cut-off points were ≥ 0.88 in women and ≥ 0.90 in men. Recommended cut-off points for body mass index and waist circumference had a poor predictive ability. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that measures of central rather than general obesity relate to type 2 diabetes in SSA. It remains to be verified from larger population-based epidemiological studies whether anthropometric targets of obesity prevention in SSA differ from those in developed countries.