Behavioral and psychosocial correlates of fasting blood glucose in a resource-constrained diabetes clinic in the Dominican Republic: an exploratory network analysis.
4 affiliations
- 1Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY, United States.
- 2Health and Nutrition Sciences, Brooklyn College, New York, NY, United States.
- 3Centro Regional Contra la Diabetes, Nagua, Dominican Republic.
- 4Human Performance and Nutrition Research, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States.
Abstract
Objective
Examine the associations between demographic, behavioral, and psychosocial characteristics and fasting blood glucose among adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) at a regional diabetes clinic in the Dominican Republic (DR).Methods
This cross-sectional study enrolled 65 adults with T2D who received care from a non-profit regional diabetes clinic in the DR. Participants completed interviewer-administered questionnaires to assess sleep quality, perceived stress, diet quality, health-related quality-of-life, and physical activity (PA). Fasting blood glucose was measured using capillary testing by a clinic nurse. A complete-case network analysis was conducted to examine conditional associations among study variables.Results
Only 15 participants (23%) had fasting blood glucose within the 80-130 mg•dL⁻¹ target range for people with T2D, with significantly higher levels among men (243 ± 93 vs. 170 ± 64 mg•dL⁻¹, p<0.001). Participants reported poor sleep quality (98%), moderate-to-high stress (97%), and low consumption of fruits and vegetables. Although 95% of participants met or exceeded recommended PA volume, activity was primarily from occupational and household tasks performed at light-to-moderate intensity. PA was the most connected variable within the network, and was inversely related to fasting blood glucose.Conclusions
In this resource-constrained DR clinic sample, poor fasting blood glucose coexisted with substantial sleep, stress, and diet deficiencies, despite substantial low-to-moderate-intensity PA. The network findings support diabetes self-management interventions to improve physical activity, sleep hygiene, stress reduction, and diet education, to improve glycemic control in low- and middle-income countries. Future prospective network analyses may identify context-specific behavioral targets for improving glycemic control in similar populations.
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BibTeX
@article{rossi2026behavioral,
title = {{Behavioral and psychosocial correlates of fasting blood glucose in a resource-constrained diabetes clinic in the Dominican Republic: an exploratory network analysis.}},
author = {Amerigo Rossi and Mónica O Rossi and Aurelina C Jiménez and Ali Boolani},
journal = {Frontiers in clinical diabetes and healthcare},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fcdhc.2026.1978637},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42908733},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Behavioral and psychosocial correlates of fasting blood glucose in a resource-constrained diabetes clinic in the Dominican Republic: an exploratory network analysis.
AU - Amerigo Rossi
AU - Mónica O Rossi
AU - Aurelina C Jiménez
AU - Ali Boolani
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Frontiers in clinical diabetes and healthcare
DO - 10.3389/fcdhc.2026.1978637
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42908733
AB - Objective Examine the associations between demographic, behavioral, and psychosocial characteristics and fasting blood glucose among adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) at a regional diabetes clinic in the Dominican Republic (DR).Methods This cross-sectional study enrolled 65 adults with T2D who received care from a non-profit regional diabetes clinic in the DR. Participants completed interviewer-administered questionnaires to assess sleep quality, perceived stress, diet quality, health-related quality-of-life, and physical activity (PA). Fasting blood glucose was measured using capillary testing by a clinic nurse. A complete-case network analysis was conducted to examine conditional associations among study variables.Results Only 15 participants (23%) had fasting blood glucose within the 80-130 mg•dL⁻¹ target range for people with T2D, with significantly higher levels among men (243 ± 93 vs. 170 ± 64 mg•dL⁻¹, p<0.001). Participants reported poor sleep quality (98%), moderate-to-high stress (97%), and low consumption of fruits and vegetables. Although 95% of participants met or exceeded recommended PA volume, activity was primarily from occupational and household tasks performed at light-to-moderate intensity. PA was the most connected variable within the network, and was inversely related to fasting blood glucose.Conclusions In this resource-constrained DR clinic sample, poor fasting blood glucose coexisted with substantial sleep, stress, and diet deficiencies, despite substantial low-to-moderate-intensity PA. The network findings support diabetes self-management interventions to improve physical activity, sleep hygiene, stress reduction, and diet education, to improve glycemic control in low- and middle-income countries. Future prospective network analyses may identify context-specific behavioral targets for improving glycemic control in similar populations.
SN - 2673-6616
ER -