The relationship between pre‐incarceration related social determinants and glycaemic control in African Americans with criminal legal involvement and type 2 diabetes

AIMS: To evaluate the relationship between pre-incarceration social determinants, demographic and clinical factors, and glycaemic control in African Americans with a history of criminal legal involvement and type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: One hundred and seventy-one adults were recruited from medical records and community centres in the Midwestern United States. The model was estimated using stepwise regression with forward selection to evaluate the relationship between pre-incarceration factors, demographic factors, clinical factors and glycaemic control among African Americans with a history of criminal legal involvement and type 2 diabetes. RESULTS: The fully adjusted model showed that age, comorbidity count and medication were significantly associated with glycaemic control. Compared to using only oral hypoglycaemic agents, the combination of pills/oral hypoglycaemic agents and insulin (β: 1.30; 95% CI: 0.60, 1.99) and using insulin or injectables alone (β: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.07, 1.67) were associated with an increase in HbA1c. Additionally, each additional comorbidity (β: -0.22; 95% CI: -0.37, -0.08) was associated with a 0.22% decrease in HbA1c, and each unit increase in age (β: -0.05; 95% CI: -0.09, -0.01) was associated with a 0.05% decrease in HbA1c. CONCLUSION: Pre-incarceration factors were not associated with glycaemic control in African Americans with a history of criminal legal involvement and type 2 diabetes. Interventions that account for factors such as comorbidity, age and medication are essential for future research.