Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Dec;13(6):850-9.
doi: 10.1007/s11892-013-0427-3.

Social epidemiology of diabetes and associated conditions

Tiffany L Gary-Webb  1 , Shakira F Suglia, Parisa Tehranifar
Affiliations

Social epidemiology of diabetes and associated conditions

Tiffany L Gary-Webb et al. Curr Diab Rep. 2013 Dec.

Abstract

Research focusing on the social determinants of diabetes has focused on individual-level factors such as health behaviors, socioeconomic status, and depression. Fewer studies that incorporate a broader consideration of the multiple contexts or organizational levels (eg, family, health care setting, neighborhood) within which individuals are embedded exist in the mainstream diabetes literature. Such an approach would enhance our understanding of this complex disease, and thus, future avenues of research should consider the following: (1) a life-course approach, which examines the influence of early life exposures on the development of diabetes; (2) aiming to understand the biological mechanisms of social determinants of diabetes; and (3) implementing interventions on multiple levels. Integrating this multilevel and life-course approach will require transdisciplinary science that brings together highly specialized expertise from multiple disciplines. Broadening the study of social determinants is a necessary step toward improving the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Compliance with Ethics Guidelines: Conflict of Interest: Tiffany L. Gary-Webb, Shakira F. Suglia, and Parisa Tehranifar declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A multilevel framework for social determinants of diabetes incidence and complications.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Organization WH. Social Determinants of Health: Key Concepts. 2013 http://www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/finalreport/key_con....
    1. Diez Roux AV. Conceptual approaches to the study of health disparities. Annual review of public health. 2012;33:41–58. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031811-124534. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Diez Roux AV. A glossary for multilevel analysis. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2002;56(8):588–94. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Power C, Kuh D, Morton S. From developmental origins of adult disease to life course research on adult disease and aging: insights from birth cohort studies. Annual review of public health. 2013;34:7–28. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031912-114423. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Diez Roux AV, Mair C. Neighborhoods and health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2010;1186:125–45. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05333.x. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types