Income, wealth and risk of diabetes among older adults: cohort study using the English longitudinal study of ageing.

BACKGROUND: Socio-economic status has been associated with diabetes in cross-sectional studies. This study aimed to evaluate associations of household income and wealth with both prevalent and incident diabetes among older adults in the UK. It also evaluated the association between obesity and socio-economic status.

METHODS: A cohort of people aged ≥50 years was selected from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. The relation of prevalent and incident self-reported physician diagnosed diabetes to household income and wealth was evaluated in logistic regression models adjusting for education, social class, housing tenure, age, ethnicity, marital status, body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol use and physical activity stratified by sex. The relation of prevalent obesity to household income and wealth was also evaluated using logistic regression models.

RESULTS: There were 9053 participants (4021 men and 5032 women) including 721 (8.0%) with diabetes at baseline. Among 8332 participants initially free from diabetes, 246 (3.0%) were diagnosed with diabetes during ∼4 years follow-up. The adjusted odds ratio for prevalent diabetes in the lowest quintile of wealth compared with the highest was 1.56 for men and 2.08 for women. Incident diabetes was associated with lower wealth (P for trend 0.05 for men and 0.004 for women) after adjusting for socio-economic and demographic factors, but attenuated after further adjustment for lifestyle and BMI. Prevalent obesity was significantly associated with lower wealth in women but not in men.

CONCLUSION: Lower wealth, but not income, may be associated with prevalent and incident diabetes among older adults in UK.