Obesity and employment as predictors of diabetes in Mexican Americans: findings from a longitudinal study

This article examines changes in weight loss and employment on the incidence and management of diabetes over an eight-year period. Using data from three panel waves of the Border Epidemiologic Study on Aging, collected between 1995 and 2003, estimation results from a set of logit regression models reveal that obese individuals, who lose weight over an eight-year period, are less likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than those who remain obese in waves two and three. Moreover, employment, an important covariate in all three waves, is associated with the lower likelihood of being diagnosed with diabetes. In all, results confirm findings from cross-sectional data that point to overweight and obesity as important predictors of diabetes and further support public policy efforts that aim at controlling the rising incidence of diabetes through tailored interventions.