believed to have pre-diabetes, a condition when a person has high blood sugar As of 2002, Tennessee had 352,000 people with diagnosed diabetes. …
OFFICE OF BUSINESS ECONOMIC RESEARCH RESEACH NOTE 200501
Are We Facing a Diabetes Epidemic in Tennessee? Achintya Ray PhD
FEBRUARY, 2005
Office of Business Economic Research Tennessee State University 330 10th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37203 Ph: 615 963 7058; Fax: 615 963 7381 Email: ober@tnstateedu URL: http://wwwtnstateedu/ober/
Disclaimer: The purpose of this research note is to report results of research conducted by the researcher Research notes are published to stimulate public discussion and invite more research in specified topics that will be interesting to academicians, policy-makers, businesses etc The results described and ideas expressed within the research notes are solely that of the writer and not necessarily related to the Office of Business and Economic Research or the college or the university
________________________________________ Are We Facing a Diabetes Epidemic in Tennessee? Achintya Ray PhD ________________________________________
1 Introduction Diabetes is a silent killer When a person has diabetes, the body does not properly produce or use insulin, a hormone that is critically vital to convert sugar, starch and other food into energy needed for
our daily lives Over 18 million people in the United States have diabetes1 Over 41 million of the American adults are believed to have pre-diabetes, a condition when a person has high blood sugar level but not quite high enough to be diagnosed as diabetic In 2000, over 213,000 people died from diabetes or diabetes related complications The risk of death is 2 times higher among diabetic people compared to the ones who do not have diabetes2 Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in Tennessee Besides, diabetes is the primary cause of blindness, non-traumatic amputations and kidney failure amongst adults Close to 15 of national healthcare costs can be attributed to diabetes Diabetes and diabetes related complications contribute towards 27 of the Medicare budget in the USA3 As of 2002, Tennessee had 352,000 people with diagnosed diabetes Approximately 50 of them belonged to the age group 45-64 127 of the Tennessee adults belonging to the age group of 45-64 were diagnosed with diabetes 156 of Tennessee adults belonging to the age group 65-74 and 181 in the age group 75 also reported diagnosed cases of diabetes In 2001, diabetes contributed to 306 deaths per 100,000 people in
Tennessee4
1 See American Diabetes Associations website at http://wwwdiabetesorg/aboutdiabetesjsp Accessed: February 21, 2005 2 See American Diabetes Associations website at http://wwwdiabetesorg/diabetes-statistics/national-diabetes-fact-sheetjsp Accessed: February 21, 2005 3 Source: http://fcstennesseeedu/healthsafety/p_takecharge_diabeteshtm Accessed: February 10, 2005 4 Source: The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, http://wwwstatehealthfactskfforg/ Accessed: February 10, 2005
How is Tennessee doing in terms of fighting diabetes over time? The situation does not look quite encouraging given the figures mentioned above 2 Data This research note uses data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System BRFSS BRFSS is worlds largest telephone survey to assess the health of the US population The Center for Disease Control is the primary sponsor of the BRFSS Besides the data on chronic disease related morbidity and mortality, BRFSS is also respected for its ability to provide reliable data about the health risk factors in the US population Health risk factors like smoking, alcoholism, cholesterol etc are also indicators of future burden of morbidity and mortality Thus BRFSS
also acts as an early warning system More information about BRFSS are available from http://wwwcdcgov/brfss/abouthtm The data analyzed in this research note cover the years 1995-2003 The trend in the prevalence of diabetes in Tennessee is analyzed both absolutely and also compared to the national data Only people aged 18 and more will be considered for the purpose of analysis Also, we will consider only non-pregnancy related diabetes 3 The growth of Diabetes over time in Tennessee The prevalence of diabetes increased from 52 in 1995 to 94 is 2003 This is equivalent to 808 increase in the prevalence rate over a nine year period Over these nine years, the prevalence of diabetes has increased steadily see chart 1 Not only for the aggregate population, the prevalence of diabetes has increased steadily both among men and women For example, the prevalence of diabetes among men has increased from 51 in 1995 to 85 in 2003 In the same time period, non-pregnancy related diabetes has increased from 53 to 103 among women Women almost always reported more prevalence of diabetes than men see chart 3 4 Comparison between Tennessee and the Nation Almost throughout the 1995-2003 period, Tennessee
has performed quite worse compared to the rest of the nation and the relatively bad performance of Tennessee has worsened in the recent years This is found by comparing the prevalence of diabetes in Tennessee with the National median figures Except for the year 1997, diabetes prevalence in Tennessee has always remained greater than the median national prevalence That means, Tennessee has almost always remained in the bottom half of the states in terms of diabetes prevalence see chart 1
The difference between Tennessee and the rest of the nation has worsened steadily in the recent years In 1998, prevalence of diabetes in Tennessee was 109 of the National median prevalence The same figure stood at 118 in 2000, 127 in 2002 and 131 in 2003 see chart 2 5 Conclusion Are we facing a diabetes epidemic in Tennessee? Although the answer to this question is not straightforward, the figures are not quite comfortable if not thoroughly alarming The prevalence of diabetes has increased steadily almost throughout the 1995-2003 period The prevalence has also increased steadily both among the men and the women Additionally, Tennessee has almost always performed worse than the rest of the nation in
terms of the national median We have enough reasons to be worried about the worsening diabetes scenario in Tennessee It is time that appropriate policy measures are designed and additional research is conducted to evaluate the factors that led to such a steep increase in the diabetes prevalence in Tennessee
Dr Achintya Ray is an Assistant Professor of Economics Finance and a Senior Research Associate in the Office of Business Economic Research, College of Business, Tennessee State University Email: aray4@mytsutnstateedu, Phone: 615 963-7347, Fax: 615 963-7381; URL: http://wwwtnstateedu/ober/rayhtm
CHART 1
Prevalence of Diabetes in TN and the National Median prevalence of Diabetes Source: National Risk Factor Surveillance System, Age: 18 and above
10
9
PERCENTAGE
8
7
6
5
4 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
YEAR Diabetes Prevalence in TN National Median Diabetes Prevalence
CHART 2
Tennessee Diabetes prevalence as a percentage of National Median diabetes prevalence
135
125
Percentage
115
105
95
85 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
YEAR
CHART 3
Diabetes Prevalence among males and females in Tennessee Source: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
System, Age 18 and above
105 10 95 9 85 8 75 7 65 6 55 5 45 4 35 3 25 2 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
YEAR
Percentage
2000
2001
2002
2003
Diabetes Prevalence Among Females
Diabetes Prevalence Among Males
Source:gao.gov
