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DIABETES PREVALENCE AMONG TRADITIONAL ROMA WOMEN IN SERBIA: A COMMENTARY ON ČVOROVIČ (2018)

The Journal of Biosocial Science article by Jelena Čvorović entitled ‘Self-rated health and teenage pregnancies in Roma woman: increasing height is associated with better health outcomes’ (Čvorović, 2018) reported on the association between early marriage, age at first reproduction and height, as an indicator of childhood environment and maternal health outcomes (expressed as the presence or non-presence of a chronic disease) among traditional Roma women in Serbia. The author concluded that the long-term effects of early childbearing may not always be associated with poorer health status. We do not have any critical remark directly on the study itself but as diabetes mellitus was included among the chronic diseases assessed in the study we would respectfully ask the author at least one question. Some of the existing studies suggest a substantial prevalence of diabetes among Roma populations and even a higher risk of developing diabetes for Roma persons compared with Caucasians. The amount of published literature related to this area remains very low (only five studies to date) and insufficient in design and number of participants to draw any conclusions (Nunes et al., 2018). The author investigated 414 women in two Gypsy villages located in northern Serbia with about 120 Roma households in one village and 20 Gypsy households in the other village (Coe et al., 2017). Chronic disease was found in 43% of women. The most common complaints were hypertension and diabetes, but the exact numbers representing each disease separately were not stated. As the number of participants suggests that the study sample is representative of the target population (female village settlements), it would be interesting to know the precise prevalence of diabetes among the study subjects. We believe this information could provide further insight into the prevalence of this disease among Roma populations. We respectfully suggest taking this point into account if a study continuation is planned.