Study suggests diabetes prevalent in U.S. Hmong population

Wisconsin Medical Journal says it’s 3 times as high as whites

Wisconsin’s Hmong population is apparently struggling with diabetes.

According to a new study by the Wisconsin Medical Journal, prevalence of type-2 diabetes in the adult Hmong population is more than three times as high as the white population.

This is apparently a relatively recent phenomenon as the first Hmong immigrants started showing up only 40 years ago. Prior to that, Hmong populations in Southeast Asia had pretty low levels of diabetes.

At Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Endocrinologist Rachel McKenney says she’s not surprised by the study’s findings as the relationship with Asian-American populations and diabetes in the United States has been pretty well documented. 

It has led, she says to the World Health Organization recommending an entirely different body mass index measurement for those populations. The study suggests that both poor diet and a lack of exercise are contributing factors to the increase.