High Prevalence of Prediabetes Among Asian and Pacific Islander Adolescents With Overweight or Obesity in a Primary Care Population
Adrian Matias Bacong, Veronica Njuguna, Jeanne Darbinian, Luis A. Rodriguez, Erica P. Gunderson, Louise C. Greenspan, Nitya Rajeshuni, Latha Palaniappan, Joan C. LoOBJECTIVE
To compare prediabetes prevalence among disaggregated U.S. Asian and Pacific Islander (Asian/PI) adolescents with non-Hispanic White (NHW) adolescents with overweight or obesity in a primary care population.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
This retrospective, cross-sectional study used Kaiser Permanente Northern California health record data. The cohort comprised 20,540 NHW and 16,508 Asian/PI adolescents aged 10–17 years with overweight (BMI 85th to <95th percentile) or obesity (BMI ≥95th percentile) at a pediatric visit (2012–2019) and HbA1c measured within 1 year. Those with HbA1c ≥6.5%, a diabetes diagnosis, or diabetes pharmacotherapy were excluded. Prediabetes was classified as HbA1c 5.7–6.4%. Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) with 95% CIs for prediabetes were examined for Filipino, Chinese, South Asian, Vietnamese, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) compared with NHW using modified Poisson regression, adjusting for age, sex, BMI, neighborhood deprivation index, and visit year.
RESULTS
Asian/PI adolescents with overweight or obesity had a higher prediabetes prevalence (26.9%) than NHW adolescents (11.9%) (P < 0.001), with variation among Asian subgroups of 31.0% for South Asian, 32.0% for NHPI, 28.2% for Filipino, 25.9% for Chinese, and 18.4% for Vietnamese adolescents. In multivariable analyses, the aPRs for prediabetes (vs. NHW) were 2.80 (95% CI, 2.57–3.05) for South Asian, 2.44 (2.23–2.67) for NHPI, 2.18 (2.06–2.32) for Filipino, 2.18 (1.99–2.39) for Chinese, and 1.68 (1.38–2.04) for Vietnamese adolescents. These findings were similar by sex, and patterns were similar within overweight or obesity subgroups.
CONCLUSIONS
Asian/PI adolescents with overweight or obesity have considerably higher prediabetes prevalence than NHW adolescents, independent of BMI. Findings varied by ethnicity. Prediabetes screening is essential for the high-risk population of Asian/PI adolescents with overweight or obesity.