A closer inspection of diabetes-related stigma: why more research is needed

Abstract

In the past few years, diabetes-related stigma has rapidly gained attention around the world. Many studies, including our study, show that a diabetes population is globally impacted by disease-specific stigma across age, gender, educational levels, employment status, and race/ethnicity. However, it still remains unclear whether some of these socioeconomic factors are more influential in terms of the social vulnerability of the exposed individuals with type 2 diabetes. Understanding how diabetes-related stigma influences patients through these socioeconomic and racial/ethnic factors, and how these impacts vary according to different patient populations would help us gain a further understanding of diabetes-related stigma as a whole. Thus, most importantly, we should establish a comprehensive, coherent study design (e.g., cross-regional study, cross-national study), identify more vulnerable patient populations, and tackle diabetes-related stigma in collaborative efforts with patients, clinicians, researchers, academic societies, governments, and all involved parties around the globe.