American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) have the highest age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes among all United States racial and ethnic groups. However, recent evidence may suggest that the diabetes epidemic of diabetes among AI/ANs may have reached threshold in the population.

Part of this accomplishment is attributable to the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) which provides grants for diabetes treatment and prevention services to 404 Indian Health Service (IHS), tribal, and urban (I/T/U) Indian health programs across the U.S.

The Urban Indian Health Institute, a Division of the Seattle Indian Health Board recently published the Urban Diabetes Care and Outcomes Summary Report, Audit Years 2011-2015, which summarizes trends in clinical outcomes among AI/AN patients with diabetes from 32 Urban Indian Health Organizations.

From this report we learn that the majority of Audit patients showed good glycemic control and met many lipid targets. In fact, 80% of patients prescribed lifestyle modifications alone to manage their diabetes met the population target of HbA1c below 8.0%. Additional progress is possible to reduce the percentage of patients who reported smoking currently (30%), being overweight or obese (92%), and being depressed currently (32%).

By increasing routine clinical foot, eye, and dental examinations, as well as offering diabetes self-management education to patients, patient outcomes will likely improve further.

 

 

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This data book is a collaborative effort with the State of Alaska’s Bureau of Vital Statistics and the ANTHC, Alaska Native Epidemiology Center. It reports on leading causes of death for the Alaska Native population. Data are provided by age, gender, and by tribal health service regions Additionally, trends over time between 1980 and 2013 are included.

Click here or on image for full report (PDF 5.5MB).

The American Indian Alaska Native Mental Health Research journal recently published an article entitled “Native Generations: A Campaign Addressing Infant Mortality among American Indians and Alaska Natives in Urban Areas.”

The Native Generations campaign was a pilot project aimed to address disparities in rates of infant mortality in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities and the general population. Former Urban Indian Health Institute staff, Shira Rutman MPH and Julie Loughran MPH, co-authored the work with Leah Tanner (Seattle Children’s Hospital), and Leslie L. Randall, RN, MPH, BSN (NiMiiPuu Health Board, Nez Perce Tribe). The campaign produced an 11-minute video which featured families, providers, and community members from diverse tribal and geographic backgrounds.

The preliminary findings conclude that 100% of AI/AN viewers liked the video and that the vast majority (80.4%) thought the video increased awareness of infant mortality rates and risk for infant mortality.

Going forward, the authors suggest that future studies should look at indicators that measure changes such as the utilization of Native-specific resources, baseline infant mortality knowledge, and evaluation of retention of information in order to collect the necessary information to support a full-scale of the Native Generations campaign.

For more information about the Native Generations project or resources developed for families, visit the Native Generations page on the UIHI website.

The full text article is available from the American Indian Alaska Native Mental Health Research journal.

Acknowledgements: This work was funded by a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health Resource Center and the manuscript development was supported by the OMH American Indian and Alaska Native Disparities program AIAMP120015. Native Generations had many important collaborators. Please see the UIHI website for more information on those who contributed to the Native Generations campaign.

SID (Southwest Indigenous Data Portal) is a secure, online HITECH/HIPPA-certified data portal developed and operated by AASTEC staff.

This innovative system is customizable for tribal health programs (i.e. SDPI, CHR, Behavioral Health, etc.) to perform a variety of functions, including:

• Monitoring participant health status/outcomes
• Tracking programmatic activities
• Evaluating program services
• Progress reporting

SID also eliminates local challenges with computer networking, data storage, confidentiality, and data security. AASTEC staff also presented on the development of SID at this year’s Native Research Network Conference in Cherokee, NC.

Click here or on image to view or download full size PDF (4MB).