Effect of medical advice for diet on diabetes self‐management and glycemic control for Haitian and African Americans with type 2 diabetes

Abstract

ObjectiveThe purpose was to assess dietary advice with diabetes self‐management and glycemic control by ethnicity.MethodsCross‐sectional analysis of 254 Blacks with type 2 diabetes (Haitian Americans=129; African Americans=125) recruited from Miami‐Dade and Broward Counties, Florida by community outreach. Sociodemographics, anthropometrics and blood samples were collected after informed consent.ResultsDietary advice and behavior dependent on ethnicity. The combined model ethnicity by ‘given advice to follow a diet’ was not significant, so separate logistic regression analyses were conducted for each ethnicity. Haitian Americans given advice ‘to follow a diet’ were more likely to ‘use food groups’ than not [OR=3.27(1.32, 8.00) p=.007]. A one unit increase in diabetes self‐management score decreased the odds ratio point estimate of having less than optimal glycemic control (A1C >; 7.2%) by a factor of 0.94 in African Americans (p=.009).ConclusionsThese results suggest that medical advice for diet plans may not be communicated effectively to some race/ethnicities. Studies of diet management specific to Black ethnicities are recommended. Funding was by an NIH/NIDDK grant.