Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus among Roma Populations—A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in the Roma population and compare it to the prevalence in the Caucasian population. Methods: Using the words “Roma”, “Gypsies”, “Romani”, and ”traveler” in combination with “diabetes, “metabolic syndrome”, “cardiovascular disease” and “health status” we searched the MEDLINE, Pubmed and Scopus databases for articles in English that focused on the prevalence of diabetes mellitus among Roma populations published until December 2017. Results: Five studies met the inclusion criteria. The results of four of them suggested a higher prevalence of diabetes among Romani compared to Caucasians but none of them reached the standards regarding representative samples and number of cases for a conclusive result. Conclusion: Although some of the existing studies suggest a substantial prevalence of diabetes among Roma populations and even a higher risk of developing diabetes for Roma persons compared to Caucasians, the number of published literature on this topic remains very low and insufficient in design and number of participants to draw any conclusions.

Prevalence of Insulin Resistance in the Hungarian General and Roma Populations as Defined by Using Data Generated in a Complex Health (Interview and Examination) Survey

“…It has been thoroughly demonstrated that Roma people are overrepresented in marginalized communities and live in unhealthy environments, and their health behaviour is significantly less favourable than that of the non-Roma population [ 38 , 64 , 65 , 66 ]. The health of Roma can be considered as global ill health [ 1 ], based not only on the burden of rare and infectious diseases [ 4 , 5 ], but also on chronic non-communicable diseases of high public health importance, such as cardiometabolic diseases, which are significantly higher among them than in the majority population [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 67 ]. In addition, the access of Roma people to health care is also impaired, resulting in a broad spectrum of unmet health needs [ 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 ].…”

“…In addition, common study limitations include a low number of participants and the absence of a majority population group as a reference. For example, the latest literature review on the prevalence of diabetes mellitus among Roma notes that altogether, four previously published papers suggested a higher prevalence of diabetes among Roma than in Caucasians, and “none of them reached the standards regarding representative samples and number of cases for a conclusive result” [ 13 ].…”

SNP-Based Genetic Risk Score Modeling Suggests No Increased Genetic Susceptibility of the Roma Population to Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

“…In other studies, the higher prevalence of T2DM among Roma in Slovakia, Serbia, and Hungary compared to the general population (of Caucasian origin) was also demonstrated [12,13,14,15,16,17]. Although the latest review of the published literature [18] concludes that studies on T2DM prevalence are insufficient in design, and none of them reach the necessary standards regarding representative samples and number of participants, the authors raise a possible genetic risk to T2DM among Roma known to have Asian origin by accepting the theory of the increased genetic susceptibility to T2DM in different (Japanese, Chinese, and Indian) Asian populations [18,19].…”

Dietary Profile and Nutritional Status of the Roma Population Living in Segregated Colonies in Northeast Hungary

“…Historical migration has led to their dispersion over many European countries [ 4 , 5 , 6 ] and they have been subjected to disadvantaged living conditions, food insecurity, high-risk health-related behaviors, as well as discrimination, stigmatization and barriers to accessing health services [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. These exposures have resulted in a particularly poor health status indicated by the high prevalence of chronic morbidity, particularly diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], as well as an estimated life expectancy of almost a decade less, compared to the general population in Europe [ 16 , 19 , 20 ].…”