Diabetes

According to Healthy People 2010, the nation's health report, African Americans, Mexican Americans and American Indians have experienced a particularly sharp rise in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes over the last decade.¹ Diabetes among minorities has become one of the largest health epidemics within the United States. As the minority population of United States grows, so do the number of reports of diabetes and chronic kidney disease.² New immigrants, who adopt a more Western diet when they settle into the United States, increase their chances for obesity and type 2 diabetes.³

Obesity is a cause of insulin resistance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. Obesity is also linked to some ethnic groups. A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study concluded that for unknown reasons, African American women become obese twice as fast as white women.⁴ The prevalence of diabetes among African Americans age 40 to 74 has doubled in just 12 years, from 8.9 percent to 18.2 percent.⁵ 

People with diabetes are at greater risk for heart disease than the general population. Although there do not appear to be consistent disparities in diabetes-related coronary artery disease between minorities and white persons, an Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality-funded study has found that African American diabetic patients are more likely than whites to have a particular lipid profile: low HDLs (high-density lipoproteins), high LDLs (low-density lipoproteins), but lower triglycerides than among whites⁶.

Facts to consider:

• Hispanic/Latino Americans are 1.5 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Hispanic whites of similar age.⁷ 
• In 2002, Native Hawaiians and Japanese and Filipino residents of Hawaii were approximately two times more likely to have diagnosed diabetes than white residents of Hawaii of similar age.⁸ 
• Hispanic Americans: 8.2 percent of all Hispanic Americans age 20 or over have diabetes. Hispanics are 1.5 times more likely to have diabetes than whites of similar age, and Mexican Americans are more than twice as likely to develop diabetes as whites.⁹ 
• Studies have shown that African Americans are 1.4 to 2.2 times more likely to have diabetes than white persons.¹⁰ 
  

^1,2,5 National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive Kidney Diseases

^3,4 Diabetes and Minorities: What are the risks? 

^6,10 Diabetes Disparities Among Ethnic and Racial Minorities

⁷ Mercy Ministries of Laredo 

^8,9 Continuing Medical Education