Identifying Diabetes Hotspots in Eastern Washington

A research project at Washington State University is currently underway to understand the impact of diabetes on adults aged 45-74 in the state of Washington. The project is data mining federal and state health databases to identify geographic hotspots in Washington for higher than expected rates of diabetes-related disease among middle aged and older adults. Data mining is the process of automatically searching large volumes of data for patterns using tools such as classification, association rule mining, clustering, and agent-based modeling.

This analysis of more than 563 communities includes a review of U.S. census data and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System (CHARS) data from the State of Washington Department of Health. The analysis has found 39 communities identified as diabetes comorbid (pertaining to two diseases which occur together; in this case, diabetes and diabetes-related disease). Identification of geographic hotspots for diabetes and related disease comorbidities will be critical in designing strategies to reduce mortality and morbidity from this disease.

Diabetes is becoming more common among U.S. adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 percent of all adults, nearly 21 million Americans, now have diabetes.

“Diabetes is estimated to be undiagnosed in as many as one-third of individuals with diabetes,” said Kenn Daratha, assistant professor of informatics at WSU. “Often, a diagnosis for diabetes occurs after complications occur.” Complications from this disease include increased risk for cardiovascular disease and micro vascular disease leading to blindness, end-stage kidney disease and extremity amputations.

Management of type 2 diabetes is complex and requires a number of interventions to improve outcomes. Continuing medical care and patient self-management education are necessary to reduce the risk of both acute events and long-term complications. While clinical evidence supports the delivery of preventive intervention services, a large gap exists between the care that should be delivered and the care that is actually delivered.

“This is of particular concern to rural communities with restricted access to health care services,” said Daratha. “As the prevalence of this disease increases and the rate of compliance to care standards remains low, increases in diabetic complications, utilization and costs are inevitable.”

The study, conducted by Daratha and Jennifer Polello, MHPA, CHES, of Inland Northwest Health Services, is entitled “Identifying Diabetes Hotspots in Washington State and Taking Action!” and will be presented at the Northwest Regional Rural Health Conference – incorporating Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana & Alaska – on March 22. This conference is the largest rural health conference in the region and draws more than 250 attendees plus exhibitors. This project is supported by the Eastern Washington Diabetes Network and the WSU Diabetes Initiative.

Daratha can be reached at (509) 358-7769 or at kdaratha@wsu.edu.