The Effects Of Socioeconomic Disparities On The Incidence And Care Of Diabetes

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

The study had an overall total of 1150 participants. Although there were many participants to begin with, they did not provide all of the feedback the researchers had requested.  This resulted in the expulsion of their participation, so their results were not included in the final reports of the study. The number of patients that did provide the essential information added up to a total of 901. The profile for a participant was a patients diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in the last 6 months, but has been diagnosed no more than 10 years ago. They had to be between 35-70 years of age. Their BMI had to be more or less than 24 kg/m2 and have an HbA1c more or less than 6.5%. They also had to have treatment with a diet or oral glucose lowering medication. Those needing insulin shots, had been diagnosed with chronic diseases, or had a change in diet or lifestyle 3 months prior to the study were not included in the overall

Although heredity plays an important role whether a person inherits diabetes and to what extent, it can be controlled through useful methods that are affordable. By changing environmental risk factors, people can reduce their risk of developing diabetes. Increasing awareness of diabetes which is a major setback for some socio-economical background and rural areas as not enough awareness is made to the general public. Identifying people at risk for the disease is also another

The rate of diabetes in the United States is one of the highest compared to other developed countries. An estimate of 9.3% of the population have diabetes, of those with diabetes 27.8% have yet to be diagnosed (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014). This means that approximately 8.1 million people are currently living with diabetes, but are unaware of it. As of 2012, 12.3% of people with diabetes were 20 years old or older, the largest population diagnosed with diabetes were adults 65 years old or older. 25.9% of this population lives with diabetes (CDC, 2014). On a national level, the CDC have launched initiatives that focus on prevention and disease management. The National Diabetes Prevention Program is an example of one such initiative. This program focuses on lifestyle changes,

Many studies have examined the link between poverty and diabetes. The CDC (2015b) have identified the following as primary factors that lead an individual to have an increased risk of developing diabetes: being overweight or obese; having a parent or sibling with diabetes; having African American, American Indian, Asian American, Pacific Islander, or Hispanic American/Latino heritage; having a history of gestational diabetes; having blood pressure measuring 140/90 or higher; abnormal cholesterol; and being physically inactive.

Many people are reluctant to seek medical attention due to fear of costs and causing more financial constraints. Most especially for individuals or families who have to choose between paying rent and securing their meals, in which case, diabetes (or other diseases for that matter) is not seen as an imminent threat, therefore it is not a priority. While some may have health coverage, they may not have the advantage to cover co-payments for the visit, medications, diagnostics, or other treatments.  Second, language barrier and other discriminations contribute to health disparity. Because they are unable to communicate their concerns and in fear of judgment, language/discrimination discourages people from seeking medical help— the assumption that they (minorities) will be treated unfairly or not given enough or of equal treatment. Undocumented individuals are also less likely to seek help in fear of being caught. Lastly, the issue of cultural disconnection— in this dimension,  participants admitted to the fear creating a stigma and receiving negative feedback from their providers (who only favor biomedical treatments).  There is fear of being an object of ridicule and rejection if they admit to the use of alternative medicines and remedies. Fear of reporting use of other remedies may adversely affect provider’s recommended regimen. In considering these social and economical factors, people become chronically ill and progressively worse until the situation becomes acute and no longer manageable. These dimensions, and other contributing factors, place limitations and restrictions in individual’s power to make health decisions, and inevitably create health disparities. Page-Reeves and others state, “ although disparity can take many forms, health disparities can be understood as one of the most concrete manifestations of inequity, often  determining who will live and who will die— with the poor and immigrants suffering

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

In addition there is huge difference in life choices, there are social variation in the chances of living a healthy life (social inequality) and managing their diabetes.

These include hospital stay and the high rate of readmission to hospital for screening and due to complications. Medications for the patients also contribute significantly to diabetes management since the drugs are prescribed for maintenance of the condition and thus need to be taken regularly. Inpatient visits to the hospital is the leading value of cost in the management of the disease (American Diabetes Association, 2013). The people who have diabetes are sicker and weaker when compared to the general population. The cost of their health care spending is also higher than the cost for healthy individuals. On the view of indirect costs due to diabetes, there are several conditions that lead to an increase in expenditure of the patients. For instance, the likelihood of developing disabilities due to complications as a result of diabetes is quite high. The workforce is therefore negatively affected and leads to a decline in the economy of the country. Out of all the deaths reported in the year 2012, the number in which diabetes was named as the primary cause amounted to 30% diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2012; National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014; American Diabetes Association, 2013). The premature deaths due to diabetes led to loss of income and loss of productivity in the country. The public therefore needs to be educated to reduce this cost as it is shown that the cost of managing diabetes is reduced when the patient has enough information about the condition. For instance, persons with better glycemic control have low levels of developing complications and report a decrease in visits to a doctor with those with uncontrolled diabetes having to visit the hospital three to eight times more (Handelsman et al.,

In 2002, among adults, there was an estimated 8.7% prevalence of diabetes. However, rather than there being a prevalence of the disease in the population as a whole, it was found more in specific population subgroups, such as the homeless population. There are certain risk factors these subgroups have that are either associated with diabetes or directly cause it. There is never a 100% correlation of development of diabetes

Diabetes is a metabolic disease and caused by high blood sugar level over a long period of time. It generally occurs when pancreas fail to produce enough insulin. Symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased hunger. There are three forms of Diabetes. Type I Diabetes Mellitus, Type II Diabetes Mellitus and gestational diabetes. It is a growing epidemic and apart from the economic burden, diabetes inflicts severe societal costs in terms of decreased quality of life of people afflicted with diabetes. Social determinants of health are defined as surroundings in which people are born, live, spend their life and grow old (Healthy People 2020). The association of social determinants with disparities is important

Improving the health of the socially and economically disadvantaged is a major task. Many Americans are living with poor health because of their socioeconomic statuses and it has many negative effects on their long term health. Improving access to health care is not enough to help fix the lower death rates among low income families. Our social status in our economy has large effect on our lives including how we are able to live our lives and in tern it has large measurable effects on our health. San Antonio is no exception, in low income areas the mortality rates by diabetes are stunning and need to be changed in order to help improve the lives of so many people. In my essay I will be proposing a plan to help lower

Diabetes relates to a gathering of ailments that is described by an abnormally expanded measure of glucose in the blood of the individual. As a result of this, the individual encounters issues in the deficiency of insulin. This malady can result to noteworthy difficulties that can even murder the individual who has this condition. In any case, the uplifting news is that diabetic individuals can have the capacity to do certain measures to ensure that they can deal with this illness and lessen the likelihood that more intricacies would rise. Diabetes is really one of the essential drivers of mortality and insufficiency in America, and the general costs associated with the treatment of this illness is assessed to around the $200 billion consistently. This paper will examine the urban wellbeing issue of diabetes among African Americans.

In the article “Health disparity and structural violence”, Researches suggest that minority population have high risk for diabetics than the social majority. Decreased level of education and increase level of poverty add the risk to develop diabetic in minority. “There are significant disparities associated with diabetes based on race and ethnicity”(Page-Reeves.etal,2013) Some types of common fears have been seen in this minority group which prevent them to approach health care.

Diabetes is a disease from which numerous other health complications can arise. In their article, “Diabetes and Coronary Heart Disease: A Risk Factor for the Global Epidemic,” Chilha, Njeim, & Chedrawy (2012) state that diabetes can lead to a plethora of various other illnesses. These diseases not only affect the United States as a whole, but developing countries as well (Chilha et al., 2012, pp. 697,240). Developing countries have had increasing cases of diabetes that have led to a number of other health complications including hypertension, a disease that is characterized by an increase in arterial blood pressure. Haffner and colleagues discuss in their article, “Mortality From Coronary Heart Disease In Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes And In Non-Diabetic Subjects With and Without Prior Myocardial Infarction,” if diabetic patients who have not had a myocardial Infarction (MI) should be aggressively treated for cardiovascular risk factors as with non-diabetic patients who have had an MI . This supports that diabetes does indeed lead to an increased risk for coronary heart disease. Lakka et al. (2002) also support this claim in their work titled, “The Metabolic Syndrome and Total and Cardiovascular Disease in Middle-aged Men.” Each work analyzes diabetes and its associated health complications in different ways using experimental and statistical data. However, all come to the common conclusion that diabetes does increase one’s risk for developing coronary heart disease. Certain