Association between Socioeconomic Status and Diabetes Mellitus: The National Socioeconomics Survey, 2010 and 2012.

INTRODUCTION

The prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is increasing, globally. However, studies on the association between Socioeconomic Status (SES) factors and DM have mostly been conducted in specific areas with rather small sample sizes or not with nationally representative samples. Their results have also been inconclusive regarding whether SES has any influence on DM or not.

AIM

To determine the association between SES and DM in Thailand.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study utilized the data from the National socioeconomics survey, a cross-sectional study conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) in 2010 and 2012. A total of 17,045 and 16,903 participants respectively who met the inclusion criteria were included in this study. The information was collected by face-to-face interview with structured questionnaires. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the potential socioeconomic factors associated with DM.

RESULTS

The prevalence of DM was 3.70% (95% CI: 3.36 to 4.05) and 8.11% (95%CI: 6.25 to 9.74) in 2010 and 2012 respectively and the prevalence of DM in 2012 was 1.36 times (95% CI: 1.25 to 1.48) when compared with 2010. The multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression observed that odds of having DM were significantly higher among those who aged 55-64 years old in 2010 and 65 years old or greater in 2012 (OR = 18.13; 95%CI: 9.11 to 36.08, OR 31.69; 95%CI: 20.78 to 48.33, respectively), females (OR = 2.09; 95%CI: 1.66 to 2.62, OR = 1.77; 95%CI: 1.54 to 2.05, respectively), and had lower education attainment (OR = 5.87; 95%CI: 4.70 to 7.33, OR= 1.22; 95%CI: 1.04 to 1.45, respectively) were also found to be associated with DM .

CONCLUSION

The study indicated that SES has been associated with DM. Those with female gender, old age and low educational attainment were vulnerable to DM.