Incidence of Diabetes Among Students at Two Different Ethnic Colleges of Pharmacy

• Published in: The FASEB journal Vol. 25; no. S1; p. lb295
• Main Authors: Obih, Patience Ogechi, Bennett, Lunawati L, Burnett, Derrick D, Thomas, Rodney B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 01-04-2011
• ISSN: 0892-6638; 1530-6860
• DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.lb295

The objective of this study is to determine if racial differences and life style play a role in the development of type 1 Diabetes (DM1) and type 2 Diabetes (DM2) in college students. A survey was conducted among pharmacy students at College of Pharmacy, Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA), a historically black college and students at the College of Pharmacy, Palm Beach Atlantic University (PABU), Florida, a predominantly Caucasian university. The survey questions included demographics, life style; diagnosis of diabetes (DM1, DM2); and family history. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of both colleges. Our results indicate that out of five hundred and fifty five students that participated in the study from both colleges, 8 in total were diagnosed with diabetes and 4 from each college. XULA had 3 students with DM1 and 1 student with DM2. PBAU had 4 cases of diabetes and all 4 of them were DM1. Most of the students studied in both colleges were in the 16–35 years age bracket: XULA (216) and PBAU (209). Most of the participants in the study, 186 at XULA and 139 at PBAU, seemed to be within the weight range of 100lb – 200lb. The incidence of diabetes in the groups studied seemed to be low with 8 cases out of 555 students surveyed in the two colleges. Although the incidence of type 1 and type 2 Diabetes have been reported to be significantly higher in Blacks than in Caucasians in the general population, our study did not show a significant difference between the college students that participated in this survey from a historically Black college (XULA) and a historically Caucasian college (PABU). With only one case of type 2 Diabetes observed in both colleges, we suggest that improved life style in college students may have played an important role in this observation.