ATLANTA (Reuters Health) - Women with diabetes are twice as likely to have low household incomes than their non-diabetic peers, and they also tend to be less educated, according to a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Nearly 28% of women with diabetes have not completed high school, and 40% live in households with an annual income below $25,000, according to survey data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The survey, conducted by telephone in 2000, included 110,000 women.

But among non-diabetic women, only 12% had not completed high school and 22% lived in households with an annual income under $25,000.

"Attaining a higher educational level might influence decision-making," CDC researchers point out, "and persons with a higher income might have better access to healthcare, higher living standards, and other material benefits that have a positive impact on health," they note in the February 22nd issue of the agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The investigators also found that their estimates remained unchanged after adjusting for factors such as age, race and ethnicity, marital status, size of household and employment status, suggesting that low income and education were indeed important influences.

"As the prevalence of diabetes continues to increase, continued and creative efforts will be needed to gain greater understanding of how socioeconomic status affects the health of women with diabetes," the CDC researchers conclude.

"Poor people tend to be more obese, and in truth, they do tend to have diets that are more energy dense and engage is less regular physical activity," Dr. Gloria Beckles, of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, told Reuters Health during a telephone press conference.

These three factors--obesity, diet, and lack of exercise--may be important contributors to type 2 diabetes in these individuals, Beckles said.

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2002;51:147-148, 159.

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