NIH Researchers Find High Rates of Kidney Disease In American Indians
October 27, 1999 Albuquerque, NM . . . Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have found that end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is anywhere from 10 to 75 times more common in native Americans with diabetes than in the whites with diabetes. Senior NIDDK researcher Peter Bennett, M.D., says that prevalence varies with different tribes. Bennett and Viola Johnson, CEO of the Gila River Health Care Corporation, reported their cumulative findings today at a conference on "Diabetes in American Indian Communities."
Fifty percent of Pima Indians over age 35 have type 2 diabetes, the highest rate in the world. Bennett speculates that genetic differences are one cause of the disproportionate prevalence of both diabetes and the ESRD that often develops from long-term diabetes.
The finding is the latest in a series of insights on the epidemic of type 2 diabetes and its complications uncovered by scientists from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) who work with Pima Indian volunteers at the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix.
Working together since the mid-1960s, NIDDK scientists, the Indian Health Service, and the Pima tribe have:
- Provided a definition of diabetes and diagnostic criteria used worldwide.
- Documented that obesity contributes to development of type 2 diabetes.
- Shown that hypertension predicts diabetic complications. Consequently, doctors now screen diabetic patients for hypertension and treat it early.
- Shown that a pregnant womanís high blood sugar can result in birth defects and place the child at very high risk for unhealthy weight and diabetes later. Every pregnant woman is now routinely screened for high blood sugar as a result.
- Shown through genetic studies that diabetes, obesity, and risk for the kidney disease of diabetes run in families.
- Shown that exercise and weight loss can lower blood sugar.
- Identified the roles of high insulin levels and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes and how insulin action increases risk for type 2 diabetes.
Bennett and Johnson spoke on the impact of diabetes on American Indian communities and the role of research among the Pima Indians on the Gila River Indian Reservation. "American Indians have some of the highest rates of diabetes in the world," Bennett says, "but with their help, we are gaining understanding of this disease, how to treat it, and how to prevent it. Thatís our common goal." More than 800 people are attending the meeting to share educational, clinical and behavioral programs to improve diabetes care and prevent it in native Americans.
Sponsors include the Center for Native American Health at the University of Arizona, the Association of American Indian Physicians, the NIDDK, the Indian Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several American Indian tribes. The conference continues through October 29.
Radio Editors: A one-minute audio report with actualities is available at 1-800-MED-DIAL (1-800-633-3425) on Wednesday October 27 at noon ET.
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Page last updated: April 17, 2008
