Poor housing conditions contribute to the risk for diabetes in urban, middle-aged African-Americans, according to a collaborative study by investigators from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Indiana University School of Medicine and other institutions.

As explained by Mario Schootman, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology and medicine and chief of the Division of Health Behavior Research at Washington University:

"We looked at several risk factors to see if they could explain why some African-Americans were more likely to develop diabetes. And we found that housing conditions somehow contribute to the development of diabetes.

So far we can't explain why that is. It could potentially be related to lead. Lead is associated with the development of diabetes, and we know that in some poorer housing conditions, there's likely to be lead exposure. But it also could be related to other, unknown environmental contaminants."

Lead exposure?! It could also well be that people living in poor housing conditions have unhealthy lifestyles, which plays a major part in the development of diabetes.

Too bad not everyone can afford a good housing condition.

Findings on the said investigation have been published in the Aug. 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Read more details from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

[In Photo: Good housing in an inner-city St. Louis neighborhood (above) contrasted with poor housing and poor conditions in a nearby St. Louis neighbourhood; Credit: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis]