Medical College of Wisconsin
CTSIResearch InformaticsREDCap

Association Between Recent Criminal Legal Involvement and Functional Status Among US Adults with Diabetes: 2015-2019. J Urban Health 2025 Apr;102(2):379-388

Date

10/29/2024

Pubmed ID

39467988

Pubmed Central ID

PMC12032083

DOI

10.1007/s11524-024-00894-4

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-105003918076 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)

Abstract

Diabetes is a significant public health concern with significant implications for health equity. Functional disability undermines disease control and may be associated with the relationship between criminal legal involvement and poor chronic disease outcomes, but this relationship has not been studied. This study examined the association between recent criminal legal involvement and functional disability among a nationally representative sample of US adults with diabetes. Adult respondents to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (2015-2019) who reported a diagnosis of diabetes were included in this analysis examining the association between three forms of recent criminal legal involvement (past year arrest, or supervision on probation or parole) and functional disability, as measured by the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Score 2.0. In multivariate linear regression analyses adjusted for relevant socio-demographic and clinical confounders, the functional disability score increased by 2.7 (95% CI, 1.6-3.9) for those with past year arrest compared to no past year arrest; 1.2 (95% CI, -0.1, 2.6) for those with past year probation compared to no past year probation; and 0.4 (95% CI, -1.1, 1.8) for those with past year parole compared to no past year parole. Recent criminal legal involvement, specifically past year arrest, is associated with greater functional disability, which may serve as an important mediator for poor health outcomes in patients with diabetes. Future research should examine this pathway and prioritize interventions to improve both functional disability and glycemic control among individuals with diabetes and recent criminal legal involvement.

Author List

Hawks LC, Walker RJ, Egede LE

Author

Laura C. Hawks MD Associate Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Aged
Crime
Diabetes Mellitus
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
United States
Young Adult