Perceived Discrimination and Type 2 Diabetes Incidence: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study

Objectives: To examine the prospective association between perceived everyday discrimination and Type 2 diabetes incidence in a large population-based sample. Method: Data were from the Health and Retirement Study of 14,900 individuals aged >= 50 years without a diabetes diagnosis. Participants self-reported experiences of everyday discrimination and diabetes status. Associations between baseline perceived everyday discrimination (one time point) and incident diabetes in the following 10 years were modeled using Cox regression, adjusting for potential confounders. Exploratory analyses assessed the association between repeated reports of perceived everyday discrimination (reports of everyday discrimination at more than one time point) and later diabetes onset. Results: A total of 917 (6.15%) of the 14,900 participants developed Type 2 diabetes over a maximum 10-year follow-up (Mdn = 6). Baseline perceived everyday discrimination was prospectively associated with an increased risk of diabetes (hazard ratio = 1.37, 95% confidence interval [1.15, 1.63], p < .001) independent of age, sex, wealth, race and ethnicity, and education. This association was robust to further adjustment for body mass index, hypertension, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, and depression. In exploratory analyses, repeated reports of everyday discrimination were not significantly associated with incident diabetes. Conclusions: Individuals who perceive everyday discrimination are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who do not perceive everyday discrimination. Further research is needed to investigate the potential pathways linking discrimination and diabetes onset.