Authors

1. Drobnik, Ann MPH
2. Breskin, Alexander MPH
3. Fuld, Jennifer PhD, MA
4. Chan, Christine MPH
5. Hadler, James MD, MPH
6. Tabaei, Bahman MPH
7. Stennis, Natalie MPH
8. Ahuja, Shama PhD, MPH
9. Wu, Winfred MD, MPH
10. Varma, Jay K. MD

Abstract

Matching infectious disease surveillance data has become a routine activity for many health departments. With the increasing focus on chronic disease, it is also useful to explore opportunities to match infectious and chronic disease surveillance data. To understand the burden of diabetes in New York City (NYC), adults with select infectious diseases (tuberculosis, HIV infection, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, chlamydial infection, gonorrhea, and syphilis) reported between 2006 and 2010 were matched with hemoglobin A_1c results reported in the same period. Persons were considered to have diabetes with 2 or more hemoglobin A_1c test results of 6.5% or higher. The analysis was restricted to persons who were 18 years or older at the time of first report, either A_1c or infectious disease. Overall age-adjusted diabetes prevalence was 8.1%, and diabetes prevalence was associated with increasing age; among NYC residents, prevalence ranged from 0.6% among 18- to 29-year-olds to 22.4% among those 65 years and older. This association was also observed in each infectious disease. Diabetes prevalence was significantly higher among persons with tuberculosis born in Mexico, Jamaica, Honduras, Guyana, Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, the Philippines, and Haiti compared with those born in the United States after adjusting for age and sex. Hepatitis C virus-infected women had higher age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes compared with the NYC population as a whole. Recognizing associations between diabetes and infectious diseases can assist early diagnosis and management of these conditions. Matching chronic disease and infectious disease surveillance data has important implications for local health departments and large health system practices, including increasing opportunities for integrated work both internal to systems and with the local community. Large health systems may consider opportunities for increased collaboration across infectious and chronic disease programs facilitated through data linkages of routinely collected surveillance data.