Objective: To determine the prevalence and incidence rates of diabetes and two specific complications for selected American-Indian tribes in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska.
Research design and methods: A descriptive epidemiological study was conducted using ambulatory care data during 1987 for prevalence and diabetes registries and complication case reporting during 1988 from IHS facilities on reservations in these states.
Results: The Winnebago and Omaha tribes had the highest age-adjusted diabetes rates, with prevalence 8.8 times and incidence 7.7 times the respective U.S. rates. The diabetes prevalence rate of combined data for the Sioux was 3.7 times the U.S. rate. Among Sioux Indians, the age-adjusted incidence rate for ESRD was 4.8 times the American-Indian/Alaska-Native rate and 13.4 times the rate for U.S. whites. The proportion of new diabetes-related ESRD (86%) was almost 3 times greater than the general U.S. population rate (30%). Also, among the Sioux, the age-adjusted incidence rate for LEA (86.7/10,000 diabetic population) was 1.5 times higher than the U.S. rate; the proportion of diabetes-related LEA (84%) was 1.8 times higher than the general U.S. population rate (45%).
Conclusions: The age-adjusted rates of diabetes and certain complications among these Northern Plains tribes are greater than the U.S. rates. Improved health services to detect and monitor diabetes and its complications and community-based prevention activities directed at the epidemic of diabetes among the various Indian tribes are urgently needed.