Role Of Diabetes In The Latino Community

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

The Hispanic ethnic group comprises more than 50 million of the American population; this about 16 percent of the population 1. The USA Census Bureau forecasts that in 2050, one out of three people living in America will be of Hispanic origin 2. Hispanics refer to people of Puerto Rican, Cuban, Mexican, Central or South American background 3. They also include people of other Spanish culture despite their race. This paper focuses on the impact of socioeconomic status of Hispanics on the incidence of Type II diabetes in East Harlem. East Harlem is located on the northeast corner of Manhattan, New York. East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio. In addition, about one-third of the East Harlem residents live below the poverty line, compared to the NYC in general East Harlem has one of the highest proportions of households in poverty 4 . Relationships between socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and chronic disease undoubtedly have complex explanations. The socioeconomic status has been used to explain the higher prevalence and higher

There are several different types of diabetes, the 6 week intervention program that I have created focuses on type 1 and 2 diabetes in the Hispanic community. Type 1 is when the pancreas does not produce insulin by its self and the patient may have to take insulin shots. Type 2 is when the body has problems breaking down the blood glucose or sugar.

Individuals of higher income levels often have private insurance that allows them to see a physician on a regular basis. These individuals are able to prevent many diseases before they exacerbate. They often eat low fat diets or plant based diets. They are educated on their nutritional health and often make better choices when choosing the different types foods to eat. Due to their income, they can afford to eat healthy food and make healthy food choices. Even though these individuals may be predisposed to certain diseases, their diets prevent them from becoming prevalent in their lives. Due to the individual’s socioeconomic status they make enough money that they don’t stress about the necessities in life. These individuals live in areas such as Roswell, Johns Creek. Alpharetta, Buckhead, Kennesaw, and Stockbridge. Individuals of a poor economic status have limited access to healthcare. These individuals often have Medicaid, Medicare, or no health insurance at all. They often eat diets that are high in fat. Individuals of poor economic status aren’t often educated about eating healthy. They often eat unhealthy because it is too expensive to eat healthy. These individuals often receive government subsidiaries such as WIC and SNAP benefits for themselves and their children. There aren’t many healthy food stores if any at all in these neighborhoods. Stores such as Whole Foods, Sprout, and Trader Joe’s aren’t located in poverty stricken communities because the individuals can’t afford the prices. It is a disadvantage that the grocery chains in the neighborhood don’t offer the resident a healthier option. Individuals of poor economic status often fight chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and often cancer. They often live sedentary lifestyles that contribute to these diseases. They eat diets that are high in red meats one that contributes to

Hispanic Americans culture each have different dietary patterns and food. “The traditional Hispanic American diet is rich in a variety of foods and dishes that represent a blend of pre-Columbian, indigenous Indian, Spanish, French, and more recently, American culture. The Hispanic diet is rich in complex carbohydrates, which are provided mainly by corn and grain products e.g. tortillas, present at almost every meal), beans, rice, and bread) (Smith, 2010).” They diet contains a good amount of protein (beans, eggs, fish, and shellfish, pork, and poultry). Chorizo is a spicy pork sausage that is served with egg for breakfast. Hispanic American favorite fruits and vegetables are tomatoes, squash, sweet potato, avocado, mango, pineapple,

There are many health problems that we face globally and each of them are important for us to be aware of and to take precautions and measures to prevent and treat such diseases that affect our global population. HIV/AIDS is a disease that is spread through direct contact with body fluids from a person who is infected with the virus, these fluids include blood, semen, rectal fluid, vaginal fluids and breast milk. There are an approximate 35 million people living with the disease globally as of 2015 and about 1 million of those people are children under the age of 15 (Aids.gov, 2016). There are approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. living with the disease and of those individuals many became infected with HIV by needle or syringe sharing,

The indicators of access are how far are the grocery stores from where the community members live, are fresh produce available to be purchased, and the availability of services that are provided at the different hospitals where diabetic patients are treated and/ or diagnosed. With these indicators, the variables that should be considered are the percentage of how many community members utilized nearby grocery stores, the percentage of the groceries inside that store are fresh/ and or canned fruits and vegetables, and the percentage of the number of services made available for all patients to

The lack of access to and availability of health food has always been a Public Health issue, affecting many lives, particularly the underserved population. The presence of small corner stores in inner cities that carry unhealthy food items has been linked with increased risk of chronic diseases and obesity. The inner cities in New York with low-income and minority communities have a large number of corner stores in close proximity to the neighborhoods and fewer number of grocery stores as well as supermarkets at a distance from the neighborhood. The owners of the corner stores in the inner city neighborhoods have very limited knowledge about the health benefits associated with the consumption of highly nutritious food. They are also unaware of the health consequences associated with the consumption of unhealthy food. Without any knowledge about health and food, these corner stores are simply

Socio-ecological Model (SEM) - United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) defines SEM as a theory-based framework for understanding the multifaceted and interactive effects of personal and environmental factors that determine behaviors, and for identifying behavioral and organizational leverage points and intermediaries for health promotion within organizations. Adult Hispanics with type 2 diabetes in Bexar County suffer healthcare disparities. Some of the factors responsible for these disparities are: language barriers, cultural barriers, lack of access to preventive healthcare, and lack of health insurance. Language barrier has a strong impact on the ability of some

There is a lack of knowledge of maintaining a healthy diet. For example, African Americans were knowledgeable about the harmful effects of smoking and drinking but their knowledge on dieting fluctuates. Some of the barriers were knowing the recommendations and serving sizes of salt, fats, fruits and vegetables. And incorporating a diet that included a high cost of fruits and

In our book, it had mentioned that Mexican Americans are 1.7 times more likely to get type 2 diabetes than whites. Type 2 diabetes is a long-term metabolic disorder and caused by high blood sugar and insulin resistance. Dietary factors can have an effect on developing type 2 diabetes as well. Mexican Americans have a higher carbohydrate diet than African Americans and whites. Type 2 diabetes can cause problems with kidney failure and diabetic retinopathy. The death rates for type 2 diabetes for Mexican Americans are 50 percent higher than for whites, Also the death rates are higher for Mexican Americans than any other hispanic group.

This study examines for the first time the genetic contributions to diabetes and metabolic traits in the AIR registry sample, which is composed of Mexican American participants who reside in the Phoenix-Arizona area. The AIR registry participants were extensively phenotyped for type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome measures. The prevalence of diabetes in our population was 12.3%, which was above the 8.3% of the general population [32,33]. Moreover, we observed that 34.0% of the participants were classified with pre-diabetes, which was similar to national averages that showed Mexican American adults in the United States with pre-diabetes at 36% [33].

The high number of reported new cases of diabetes yearly among ethnic minorities and the aging population is alarming. According to a report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National diabetes Statistics Report in 2014, diabetes is high among minorities; 15.9% American Indian/Alaska Native, 13.2% African American and 12.8% Hispanics. This is consistent with the community I worked with during the first part of my clinical rotation. The community of Casa de Merced in Tolleson. The residents comprise of low-income seniors aged 65 and over. Upon assessment of this community, the predominant health problems discovered were diabetes and high blood pressure. As a community nurse, it is vital to assess your community, identify problems and suggest remedies to stakeholders. This paper will attempt to analyze four peer reviewed articles on diabetes management and prevention.

In general, African Americans are deemed to have a poorer health status, in comparison to their white counterparts, which is primarily attributable to poverty and deprived communities. African Americans are more likely to consume unhealthy high-caloric foods, due to the fact that unhealthy foods are cheaper and easier to get than nutritious, low-calorie foods (Blake, J Mundoz,

Diabetes is associated with obesity, physical inactivity, race and other socioeconomic covariates (Hipp & Chalise, 2015). There is a steady increase in type 2 diabetes prevalence especially in adolescents and African Americans (Arslanian, 2000; Arslanian, Bacha, Saad, & Gungor, 2005; Harris, 2001).