Diabetes Diagnosis is related to Anxiety Among Mexican Americans But Not non-Hispanic Adults: A Project FRONTER study

Abstract

This study examined the link between diabetes and specific anxiety symptoms among Mexican Americans in comparison with non-Hispanics in a rural sample. The prevalence of Hispanic, and more specifically, Mexican American individuals with diabetes, is larger than their white, non-Hispanic counterparts. Adults with diabetes also experience psychological dysfunction, particularly an elevation in anxiety symptoms. Both non-Hispanic and Hispanic individuals have been found to experience co-occurring anxiety disorders and diabetes. Hispanic individuals have a higher prevalence of both anxiety and diabetes than non-Hispanic individuals. Cross-sectional data were analyzed from 582 rural dwelling individuals from an ongoing rural health study, Project FRONTIER. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the factor scores previously derived by the test’s authors (i.e., Subjective, Neurophysiological, Autonomic, and Panic) were entered as predictor variables into regression models with Diabetes diagnosis as the outcome variable. Among Mexican Americans, diabetes diagnosis was significantly related to BAI total score. The diagnoses were significantly related to all of the BAI factor scores. Specifically, Panic, Autonomic, Neurophysiological, and Subjective factor scores. Diabetes diagnosis was not related to BAI total or factor scores among non-Hispanics. Research and clinical implications are discussed.