Do risk factors explain the increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes among California Asian adults?

Asian subgroup-specific information on type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is scarce. Using the California Health Interview Survey 2007 data, we examined Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipinos, and Vietnamese adults (n = 3,688) and Caucasian adults (n = 33,981) for the prevalence of DM and risk factors. The age-adjusted prevalence of DM was the highest among Filipinos (8.05%) followed by Japanese (7.07%), Vietnamese (7.03%), and Koreans (6.3%). Chinese (5.93%) was the only Asian group studied whose prevalence was lower than Caucasians (5.94%). From multiple logistic regression, after adjusting for risk factors, Japanese had the highest likelihood of DM (OR = 1.75, CI = [1.12-2.73], P < 0.05), followed by Filipinos (1.66, [1.13-2.43], P < 0.01), and Koreans (1.59, [1.00-2.52], P < 0.05), relative to Caucasians. Our results suggest that even after accounting for lifestyle and other risk factor differences between Caucasians and key Asian subgroups in California, Japanese, Filipinos, and Koreans have a 1.6-1.75 greater likelihood of DM compared to Caucasians.