Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The focus on diabetic complications has increased over the years yet it is only recently that research has identified a link between ethnicity and the development of diabetic complications.

Aims: To establish the relationship between ethnic group and the prevalence of either diabetic nephropathy or neuropathy.

Method: A retrospective note review was undertaken for all diabetic patients who had a status of ‘current’ in the database. This returned 6608 patients, however, only 1838 patients met the inclusion criteria. The notes were reviewed, analysed and compared with the current literature on ethnicity and diabetic microvascular complications.

Results: Of the 1838 patients: 56.9% were Caucasian, 13.9% Afro-Caribbean, 23.0% South Asian and 6.3% Other. Afro-Caribbean’s had a higher mean systolic blood pressure (139.03 mmHg) compared to other ethnicities with Caucasians having the lowest mean at 132.91 mmHg. Afro-Caribbean’s were found to have poorer glycaemic control (69.5 mmol/mol) compared to the remaining ethnic groups. Nephropathy was found to be most common in Afro-Caribbean’s (14.3%) followed by South Asians (13.1%). Caucasians and Other groups had lower rates at 7.8% and 8.6%, respectively. Neuropathy was most common in Caucasians (24.4%) and lowest in Afro-Caribbean’s (14.7%); the other two ethnic groups, South Asians and Other, had similar levels at 17.4% and 16.4% respectively.

Conclusion: The link between ethnicity and complications was found to be statistically significant (P<0.01). Future research and epidemiological studies must focus on why these differences occur and if they are independent of socio-demographic, anthropometric and clinical characteristics.