| Background: Ethnic variation in the occurrence of type 2 diabetes, complications, mortality,
and health behaviours has been reported. The current research examined patterns of health related
outcomes by country of birth in people with diabetes aged 45 years and over in New
South Wales, Australia.
Methods: This study was based on the baseline data of 266,848 participants aged 45 years and
over from “The Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study” (2006–2009), NSW; Australia’s most populous
state. Health-related factors including self-rated overall health, Quality of Life (QoL),
eyesight, subjective memory complaint, hearing loss, psychological distress and functional
limitation were examined according to country of birth among 23,112 people with type 2
diabetes. Logistic regression modelling was used to compare the odds of poor outcomes
between Australian-born and overseas-born participants, adjusting for potential confounding
and mediating variables. Both age-sex and fully adjusted odds ratios (aORs) are reported.
Results: Nearly half of the people with diabetes in the sample reported hearing loss and high
levels of functional limitations, a third reported poor overall health. Compared to people
with diabetes born in Australia, people born in South East Europe, North Africa, the Middle
East had significantly greater odds of poor outcomes across the majority of examined healthrelated
factors, with the largest odds observed in the elevated level of psychological distress
outcome (aOR = 3.4 in North African and the Middle East group). Higher aORs of poor overall
health, QoL, memory problems and poor eyesight, and lower aORs for hearing loss, were
also found among those born in the Asian countries.
Conclusions: The results demonstrated significant ethnic disparity in the prevalence of
health-related outcomes. These findings provide important context for the formulation of
culturally sensitive secondary prevention strategies. |