RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Association of education level with diabetes prevalence in Latin American cities and its modification by city social environment
JF Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
JO J Epidemiol Community Health
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 874
OP 880
DO 10.1136/jech-2020-216116
VO 75
IS 9
A1 Ariela Braverman-Bronstein
A1 Philipp Hessel
A1 Catalina González-Uribe
A1 Maria F Kroker
A1 Francisco Diez-Canseco
A1 Brent Langellier
A1 Diego I Lucumi
A1 Lorena Rodríguez Osiac
A1 Andrés Trotta
A1 Ana V Diez Roux
YR 2021
UL http://jech.bmj.com/content/75/9/874.abstract
AB Background Diabetes prevalence continues to increase in urban areas of low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC). Evidence from high-income countries suggests an inverse association between educational attainment and diabetes, but research in LMIC is limited. We investigated educational differences in diabetes prevalence across 232 Latin American (LA) cities, and the extent to which these inequities vary across countries/cities and are modified by city socioeconomic factors.Methods Using harmonised health survey and census data for 110 498 city dwellers from eight LA countries, we estimated the association between education and diabetes. We considered effect modification by city Social Environment Index (SEI) as a proxy for city-level development using multilevel models, considering heterogeneity by sex and country.Results In women, there was an inverse dose–response relationship between education and diabetes (OR: 0.80 per level increase in education, 95% CI 0.75 to 0.85), consistent across countries and not modified by SEI. In men, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Mexico showed an inverse association (pooled OR: 0.92; 95% CI 0.86 to 0.99). Peru, Panama and El Salvador showed a positive relationship (pooled OR 1.24; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.49). For men, these associations were further modified by city-SEI: in countries with an inverse association, it became stronger as city-SEI increased. In countries where the association was positive, it became weaker as city-SEI increased.Conclusion Social inequities in diabetes inequalities increase as cities develop. To achieve non-communicable disease-related sustainable development goals in LMIC, there is an urgent need to develop policies aimed at reducing these educational inequities.Data are available upon reasonable request. The SALURBAL project welcomes queries from anyone interested in learning more about its dataset and potential access to data. To learn more about SALURBAL’s dataset, visit https://drexel.edu/lac/ or contact the project at salurbal@drexel.edu.