The Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes among African-American Women

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

Chapter 2 focuses on problems in health care such as access, cost, quality, and what some believe to lead to health issues. “The World Health Organization defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being” (p27). Many argue that “the study of social problems is, essentially, the study of health problems, as each social problem affects the physical, mental, and social well-being of humans and the social groups of which they are a part” (p27).

According to the office of the minority health, approximately 48% of African American women and 44% of African American men suffer from some form of the cardiovascular disease which includes heart disease and stroke and adults are 40 percent more likely to have high blood pressure while the women are 1.6 times more likely to die from heart diseases and complications than other ethnic groups (The Office of Minority Health, 2016).

with evidence that diabetes precursors may even be more common in African American than in

According to the American Diabetes Association, more Americans die each year from diabetes than from AIDS and breast cancer combined. As a result, researchers have extensively studied the causes, treatments, and interventions for diabetes. Despite efforts to ameliorate its effects, diabetes remains a prevalent danger in society. In 2014, 7% of U.S. adults were living with diagnosed diabetes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016). In Louisiana that number was even higher - 10.4% of adults have been diagnosed with diabetes. Breaking it down by age group, however, in Louisiana 3% of people aged 18 and 44 have been diagnosed, and 15.2% of people 45-64. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015a). Several studies have predicted future rates of diabetes both in the United States and worldwide - nearly all of these studies reached a similar conclusion: rates of diabetes will continue to rise (Boyle et al., 2001).

The impact of diabetes on African Americans is disproportionate. An estimated four million of African Americans with the age of twenty and above are diabetic. They are more prone to have diabetes as compared to non-Hispanic whites. Once an African American reaches the age of 65,

African Americans are twice as likely to die of an illness such as cancer and heart disease as well as, less likely to have health access compared to any other race. African Americans are yet subject to racial discrimination and stereotypes in the health care, that leads them without the correct health screenings and treatments. The root of these racial disparities connects with the intersectionality of race, class, gender and education.

Native Americans are mainly affected with type 2 diabetes. This is are mainly due education barriers. Not fully understanding the diagnosis usually leads to further problems, like not being able to treat the diagnosis

Environmental barriers, such as, not having access to healthy food can have an adverse impact on a person health, especially if their lives are further complicated by a chronic illness. For instant, diabetes which is a disease that affects at least 16 million Americans; African Americans and Latinos are the groups that are affected the most, as compared to the White population (Horowitz, Colson, Hebert & Lancaster, 2004). African Americans and Latinos are more likely to have more complications due to diabetes as well as a higher mortality rate (Horowitz et al., 2004). Some populations of people are prone to having a high prevalent rate of diabetes; therefore, research done at a community level is necessary to help figure out why

There are several race traits and risk factors from African-American such as Heart Disease, Cancer, Stroke, Diabetes, and Pneumonia/Influenza. Also they have those risk factors due to cultural difference diet and exercise such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, stroke, end stage renal disease, dementia, diabetes, and certain cancers. Especially, diabetes has more frequency reason of death among Black elders than in other ethnic people except American Indians (Health and Health Care of African American , n.d). In addition, according to the Health and Health Care of African American (n.d.), the death rate for all cancers is 30% higher for African Americans than for Whites, e (Health and Health Care of African American, n.d).

Lack of doctors is only one facet to this multifaceted problem. Accessibility in terms of having the financial resources to obtain care is another. “Individuals in lower social status groups have the highest rates

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

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, "[By 1993] death certificates listed diabetes as the fifth leading cause of death for Blacks aged 45 to 64, and the third leading cause of death for those aged 65 and older in 1990.” (Bailey, 2007). These statistics show how serious the problem of diabetes has become in the black community. Epidemiological studies can focus the efforts of the healthcare community to effective interventions aimed at lowering the prevalence and incidence of diabetes among African Americans.

Throughout the past, scientists have attempted to explain the health disparity between African Americans and Whites. With the completion of the human genome project, it was shown that there is very little difference between different races on the genetic level. However, “African Americans are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease as their European counterpart,” the question that has arisen is where do these differences stem from (Harell, Floyd, Daniels and Bell). Recently, scientists have begun to believe that racism could possibly explain these differences (Belgrave &Allison, 2010).

Diabetes affects people worldwide and poses major public health and socioeconomic challenges. The disorder was previously thought to be rare or undocumented in rural Africa, but over the past decades it has emerged as an important non-communicable disease in sub-Saharan Africa.