GRAP Opporunity – A South African “Datamining” Exercise: Descriptive analysis of child Type 1 Diabetes (Kaplan)
Opportunity ID: 02-Kaplan
Project Title: A South African “Datamining” Exercise: Descriptive analysis of child health in South Africa: Type 1 diabetes
Faculty Mentor: Warren Kaplan and Andrew Stokes
Description Statement:
Various sources of data from South Africa have assessed aspects of the health and nutritional status of South Africans with respect to the prevalence of NCDs (specifically cardiovascular disease, diabetes and hypertension) and their risk factors (diet, physical activity and tobacco use).
Such sources have collected health survey data on many thousands of households and have collected clinical informaiton on smaller subsets of participants. These sources have found that the prevalence of impaired glucose homeostasis is nearly 20% with prevalence of diabetes [as measured by HbA1c > 6.5%] being over 9%.
The research is in two phases:
- A preliminary phase to determine the sample size of persons 0-14 years of age with the appropriate metrics for analysis (see Scope of Work, below). Phase 2 is done given a useful sample size.
- An analysis of the possible factors influencing blood sugar (as measured by HbA1c) in this population.
Scope of Work:
This work is intended to be a preliminary descriptive analysis of the socioeconomic status, health risk factors and blood sugar in the South African population aged 14 or less. Type 1 diabetes typically manifests itself at a young age. Little is known about its prevalence in Africa.
There is a strong inference that an HbA1c > 6.5% found in the age group 0-14 is more likely than not to be Type 1 diabetes which is an autoimmune disease of unknown cause- as compared to Type 2 diabetes which is more common and related to genetics and ‘lifestyle’. Factors to be analysed are: blood sugar, obesity, BMI, nutritional status.
Minimum skills required/desired:
Good to excellent familiarity with SAS, R, SPSS, or STATA and Excel®
Time / Date Expectations :
From January 2016-June 2016: We would expect no more than 2-3 hours per week
Additional Material Requested: None
Number of Positions: One (1)
Logistics & Support:
