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(Stroke. 2008;39:1675.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Original Contributions

Regional Differences in Diabetes as a Possible Contributor to the Geographic Disparity in Stroke Mortality

The REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke Study

Jenifer H. Voeks, PhD; Leslie A. McClure, PhD; Rodney C. Go, PhD; Ronald J. Prineas, MD, PhD; Mary Cushman, MD, MS; Brett M. Kissela, MD Jeffrey M. Roseman, MD, PhD

From Departments of Epidemiology (J.V., R.G. J.R.) and Biostatistics (L.M.), School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala; Department of Public Health Sciences (R.P.), Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC; Department of Medicine (M.C.), University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vt; and Department of Neurology, University of Cincinnati (B.K.), Cincinnati, Ohio.

Correspondence to Jenifer Voeks, RPHB 230J, 1530 3rd Ave S, Birmingham, AL 35294-0022; E-mail jvoeks{at}uab.edu

Background and Purpose— Diabetes and hypertension impart approximately the same increased relative risk for stroke, although hypertension has a larger population-attributable risk because of its higher population prevalence. With a growing epidemic of obesity and associated increasing prevalence of diabetes that disproportionately impacts the southeastern Stroke Belt states, any potential contribution of diabetes to the geographic disparity in stroke mortality will only increase.

Methods— Racial and geographic differences in diabetes prevalence and diabetes awareness, treatment, and control were assessed in the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke study, a national population-based cohort of black and white participants older than 45 years of age. At the time of this report, 21 959 had been enrolled.

Results— The odds of diabetes were significantly increased in both white and black residents of the stroke buckle (OR, 1.26; [1.10, 1.44]; OR, 1.45 [1.26, 1.66], respectively) and Stroke Belt (OR, 1.22; [1.09, 1.36]; OR, 1.13 [1.02, 1.26]) compared to the rest of the United States. In the buckle, regional differences were not fully mediated and remained significant when controlling for socioeconomic status and risk factors. Addition of hypertension to the models did not reduce the magnitude of the associations. There were no significant differences by region with regard to awareness, treatment, or control for either race.

Conclusions— These analyses support a possible role of regional variation in the prevalence of diabetes as, in part, an explanation for the regional variation in stroke mortality but fail to support the potential for a contribution of regional differences in diabetes management.

Key Words: diabetes • geography • racial differences