Examining Diabetes and Metabolic Traits of Mexican Americans in the AIR Registry Sample

The incidences of diabetes are growing annually, and predicted to increase within the coming decades. The number of cases yearly is not only increasing, but the age of onset for diabetes has decreased. This means more individuals are developing diabetes at an earlier age. Diabetes not only affects individuals and communities but countries as well. The prevalence of diabetes has gathered billions of dollars in healthcare costs. [1]Type 2 diabetes also leads to other serious medical conditions such as heart disease, renal failure, blindness, and tissue damage in extremities that will eventually lead to amputation. These illnesses, as a result, result in further costs in the form of disability and the loss of a portion of our workforce. However, incidences of type 2 diabetes are in higher occurrence amongst Hispanic groups. According to the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Mexican Americans have an unusually high prevalence of diabetes compared to that of the general population [2]. Hispanic females have the highest lifetime risk of becoming diabetic – 52% [3], compared to that of the average risk of

I found that an America Latino’s are prone to illnesses such as COPD, diabetes, asthma and obesity. Diabetes and heart disease are great in Latinos then the non-Latin population is attributed to lifestyles difference such as the intake of fatty foods. It is very difficult to detect some illnesses due to their biological variations of individuals from the Latino communities. Some illnesses take time before they are detected and effectively treated and that is why there is no specific genetic disease associated with the Latino community. But research has been known to find cases of sickle

Hispanics households with low socioeconomic status and low education coupled with low diabetes awareness have high type 2 diabetes prevalence 9. The high prevalence rates of type 2 diabetes can be attributed to a number of reasons such as; the Latinos have a genetic tendency to develop insulin resistance and they face high risks for abdominal obesity. The study emphasized that the strongest predictors of developing type 2 diabetes in Hispanic population are impaired insulin sensitivity, low insulin secretion and and glucose effectiveness 1. In addition, the prevalence rates are high in poor families who have poor nutrition and lifestyle behaviors. Since poor families have low access to education, they tend to have low awareness for diabetes hence these results in high diabetes prevalent rates. The results of the study indicated that incidence of diabetes decreased with rising educational level in Hispanic population

(2012) suggest that, “genetic ancestry has a significant association with type 2 diabetes above and beyond its association with non-genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes in African Americans, but no single gene with a major effect is sufficient to explain a large portion of the observed population difference in risk of diabetes. and that there is a interplay among specific genetic factors, which may both be associated with overall admixture, leading to the observed ethnic differences in diabetes

The Hispanic cultures view on obesity or having a fuller and heavier child differs from an American’s perspective. Like many cultures around the world, hefty version of themselves is a sign of wealth and opulence. This belief is passed down to their children. Hispanic and Latino mothers believe a heavier child is a good idea and it shows healthy development. “Culture can influence the perception of risk associated with obesity. Studies of Latinos have found that many mothers of obese children believe their child to be healthy and are unconcerned about their child's weight, although these same parents are likely to believe that obese children in general should be taken to a nutritionist or physician for help with weight reduction.” (Caprio

Based on the United States census, it is estimated that by the year 2050 one in three people living in the United Sates will be of Hispanic/Latino origin which include sub groups like Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban, Central Americans, and South Americans (Heart Association, 2014). Within those subgroups, the prevalence varied for people of Mexican descent from as high of 18.3 percent to as low as 10.3 percent for people of South American descent, Dominicans and Puerto Rican descent 18.1 percent, Central American descent and Cubans descent 13.4 percent all living in the United States with diabetes type 2. On another commentary being published in the same issue of Diabetes Care, the author wrote, “the differences in diabetes and obesity prevalence among Latinos subgroups are marked when all individuals are combined into a single group” (Heart Association, 2014). Diabetes in Latino Americans has become more prevalence with aging, by the time they reach the age of 70 years, 44.3 percent of Latino men age 70 years old to 74 years old will have develop diabetes. The same study also indicated that the longer Latino Americans live in the United States the more likely they will develop diabetes, that is according to the education and income level of the person. The study also shows

As a nurse working in the home healthcare field for many years, I have enjoyed being an

Diabetes is a prevalent health disparity among the Latino population. Diabetes is listed as the fifth leading cause of death among the Latino population in the website for Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, in 2009. According to McBean, “the 2001 prevalence among Hispanics was significantly higher than among blacks.” (2317) In other words among the Hispanic or Latino community, there is a higher occurrence of diabetes as compared to other racial/ethnic groups such as Blacks and Native Americans. The prevalence of diabetes among Latinos is attributed to the social determinants of health such as low socioeconomic status and level of education. Further, this becomes an important public health issue when it costs the

Their specific motivation, however, can be traced back to two significant gaps in the literature. According to their comprehensive review of the literature, Hamilton et al. found that the place of birth and the arrival cohort for Hispanic immigrants in the US have been largely neglected. "These migrants," they argue, "come from a diverse set of countries and have migrate to the United States under vastly different political, social and economic contexts, which could produce immense birth-country and arrival-cohort health variation among Hispanic immigrants, dimensions of health most previous studies ignore" (473). In addition to setting out to fill the aforementioned gaps, they also clearly present two major hypotheses that they intend on testing in their

The burden of Type diabetes is much higher in ethnic minorities than for whites (CDC, 2011). Those of which include Latino and African American ethnicities. According to Lemon, Rosal, & Welch (2011), Latinos have a higher rate of type 2 Diabetes Mellitus rates than Caucasian because of socioeconomic status, education, health beliefs, family/relationship, and gender role expectations. The majority of this literature review was women and most of which had less than 8 years of education, with the average income of less than $10,000 annually (Lemon, Rosal, & Welch, 2011). Both of these factors which contribute to the risk of prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes. Several factors including language, literacy, and culture and values all are important in addressing the risk factors in low-income Spanish speaking individuals’ quality of life and risk of chronic disease.

Mexican American’s seem to have more traits that increase the risk of cardiovascular issues, (Winkleby) than white adults. According, to the article Mexican American are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease due to certain sub-factors. These factors contain an uncontrolled hypertension and being below the poverty line. Being below

There are many health disparities that exist among the Hispanic population. Many of these are chronic conditions that affect the population. Obesity is one of the many examples of conditions that have increased for the Hispanic population. The CDC (2014) states, “The prevalence of obesity among female Mexican American adults during 2007–2010 was larger than the prevalence among female white, non-Hispanic adults during the same years” (p. 1). This is one of the many statistics that show an example of a health disparity in the Hispanic population. Another example of a problem that is prevalent in the Hispanic community is the health promotion and screening rates. The CDC (2014) states, “A smaller percentage of Hispanic adults aged 50-75 years reported being up-to-date with colorectal cancer screening in 2010 than their non-Hispanic adult counterparts”

This paper will center on the vulnerable population of Mexican-American immigrants with chronic type II adult-onset diabetes and how this affects this growing population. The definition, description, steps, and method of epidemiology will facilitate the discussion. Routine data such as demographics, census, birth, death, and surveillance records, and research data such as medical and health records, will bring pertinent information to the study. The Epidemiological Triangle and which type of epidemiology study that was used will be explored. A description of the relationship of the disease levels of prevention will conclude the paper.

The following is a case study of a 41 year-old Mexican American woman who was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

As well as the higher use of herbal medicines, this will affect the selection of prescription medication (Guerrero & Jones, 2016). In addition, Asian cultures have a lower level of CYP 2D6 a drug metabolism enzyme for antiarrhythmics, antidepressants, and neuroleptics; therefore, they require lower dose of these medications. In contrast, Hispanic cultures are at higher risk for obesity that affects the metabolism and absorption of drugs; and diabetes due to higher levels of insulin resistance and lower level of insulin sensitivity (Guerrero & Jones, 2016). There is also a higher incidence of asthma with Puerto Ricans due to them having a greater response to bronchodilators and Arg16 genotype. In addition, religion plays important role in Hispanic Americans health decisions (Guerrero & Jones, 2016). This is important because practitioner’s lack of knowledge regarding cultural differences contribute health disparities and poor patient outcomes (Hart & Mareno,