Clinical and Metabolic Particularities of a Roma Population with Diabetes—Considering Ethnic Disparities in Approaching Healthcare Management

Abstract

The Roma population is Europe’s largest ethnic minority, yet data on the prevalence of non-communicable diseases remain scarce in medical literature. This study aimed to compare the clinical and metabolic particularities of a Roma population with diabetes with a group of non-Roma. We conducted an observational, transversal study and evaluated 808 adult patients with diabetes mellitus, from a tertiary diabetes care hospital. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was high among both groups, 94.3% in the Roma patients and 89.1% in the non-Roma. A slightly higher mean value of the triglyceride–glucose (TyG) index was observed among the Roma group (10.07 ± 0.71 versus 9.71 ± 0.82). Among the non-Roma, variables that were significantly associated with the TyG index were glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein–cholesterol (HDL-c), and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c), while among the Roma, HbA1c and HDL-c were correlated with this index. There were no differences concerning myocardial infarction; however, the number of patients with a history of stroke was 2.1 times higher in the Roma group compared to the non-Roma group. The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, cardiovascular disease, and microvascular complications among the study’s Roma population are quite significant, underscoring the importance of ethnic disparities in approaching healthcare management strategies.