Type 2 diabetes mellitus and the risk of falling into poverty: an observational study

Background: Diabetes is known to be associated with low income; however, no longitudinal studies have documented whether developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a risk factor for later falling into poverty. This paper aims to determine whether Australians who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes have an elevated risk of falling into income poverty or multidimensional poverty.

Methods: Data from a nationally representative, longitudinal survey conducted annually since 2001 are utilized. It identifies adults aged 21 years and over who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes between 2007 and 2009 and compares their risk of falling into income poverty and multidimensional poverty between 2007 and 2012 relative to those who had never been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes using survival analysis with Cox regression models.

Results: After adjusting for confounding factors, for men who were diagnosed with T2DM, the hazard ratio for falling into income poverty was 1.89 (95% CI: 1.03–3.44) and 2.52 (95% CI: 1.24–5.12) for falling into multidimensional poverty, relative men who had never been diagnosed with T2DM. There was no significant difference in the hazard ratio for falling into income poverty (p = 0.6554) or multidimensional poverty (p = 0.9382) for women who were diagnosed with T2DM compared with women who had never been diagnosed with T2DM.

Conclusion: Being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes increases the risk of men falling into poverty. The risk is higher for multidimensional poverty than income poverty.