Overweight Diabetics Earn Less

A Dallas-based marketing research firm survey of 9,265 respondents indicates that people with diabetes earn less and weigh more than their non-diabetic counterparts.

In Decision Analyst Inc.’s ongoing Health and Nutrition StrategistTM study, 9.6 percent of respondents who were 20 years and older said they had diabetes. In answering other questions about their health, the following statistics emerged:

   •    Adults with diabetes are more likely to earn less than people who don’t have the disease. Sixty-two percent of them have an annual pretax income per year of less than $50,000, compared to 52.8 percent of adults without diabetes. And only 7.1 percent of people with diabetes earn more than $100,000 per year, while 16 percent of non-diabetic adults earn that amount.  

   •    People with diabetes are more likely to be overweight than their non-diabetic counterparts: 10.3 percent weigh more than 300 pounds, and 16.4 percent weigh between 250 and 299 pounds, compared to 2.7 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively, of adults who do not have diabetes.

   •    People with diabetes are more aware that they are overweight: 49.8 percent say they are “more than 30 pounds overweight,” compared to 24.3 percent of non-diabetic adults who say the same thing. Only 11.3 percent describe their weight as being “about right,” compared to 24.9 percent of adults who do not have diabetes.

Methodology

The study was conducted online using the company’s American Consumer Opinion® panel, a panel of six million consumers spread among 150 countries. Members join for free and can receive cash rewards for participating in surveys.

Data on diabetes was collected using a statistically balanced sample of 9,265 adults, of which 4,636 were age 45 or older. The margin of statistical error ranged from 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent, plus or minus, at a 95-percent confidence level. The Health and Nutrition Strategist study is an integrated knowledge base of health habits, nutritional attitudes, food and beverage consumption, and restaurant usage.

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