African Americans and Diabetes

Document Type:Case Study

Subject Area:Health Care

Document 1

7 million of them are African Americans. Statistics indicate that at least 18. 7 % of African Americans who are below the age of 20 are likely to be diagnosed with diabetes or diabetes-related disorders. On an accurate statistical evaluation, African Americans have a likelihood of acquiring by 77% over the rest of Americans. In this line of thought, it is critical to understand the underlying factors that lead to this high prevalence and consequently, the right method of treatment. Stress is another risk factor as it affects the metabolic ability of the body to a great extent. Predisposition Diabetes can be a predisposition to the environment that an individual lives in. It is evidently possible to inherit this predisposition and then something in the environment triggers it.

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African Americans are most likely to acquire diabetes if they live in the same environments where they grew. Having been born in extreme conditions in a slum-like environment, most African Americans hardly find their way out of the slums. As such it would be eminently wrong to say that African Americans are more susceptible to diabetes than other races (Marshall, 2005). The only right conclusion, in this case, would be that African Americans lead peculiar lifestyles that always make them susceptible to diabetes. Critical literature has always indicated that lifestyle is factors pertinent to the susceptibility to diabetes. As such, there is adequate reason to believe that beyond a history of diabetes, the lifestyle, as well as social connections among African Americans, is a leading reason as to why they develop diabetes.

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Most African Americans are overweight while a substantial amount of them are obese. are characteristic of diabetes with a very poor glycemic control and high blood pressure. Their susceptibility to diabetes comes as a result of their lifestyle. In most instances, African Americans who are diabetic have some other chronic diseases affecting them. The disparity of the related chronic disease ranges from blood pressure to depression. It is disproportionate that whereas African Americans are a minority population, their levels of diabetic infection is a majority (Mayer-Davis et al. In this consideration, there is need to prescribe ample livelihood education to the African American population seeing that their lifestyle is a factor that poses risk to the existence and occurrence of diabetes among them.

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Diagnosis and Evaluation African Americans are affected by diabetes since their young ages to their prime ages. Diabetes is a problem among the African American youths and it affects a wide range of African Americans ranging from adolescents below the age of 18 to those beyond the age of 65. One pertinent factor in their diagnosis is that African Americans lead lives that are so different from that of the greater American population (Azar et al. African Americans are at a high risk of developing complications related to diabetes. The very instance we observe is the likelihood of African Americans to acquire formal employment. Research indicates that only 10% of African Americans are committed to formal employment. 90% of them are however not into formal employment because they believe that it is irrational (Mayer-Davis et al.

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Among the remaining 30%, the greater population never engages in vigorous activities. Most of them spend their lives in a relaxed environment. Evidently, most African Americans are still blind to understand that they befall a line of inherent diabetic proneness (Cavanaugh, 2011). Their skill and ability to deal with disease are therefore limited. As such, there is a need for awareness as a policy. African Americans need to be educated most of them inherit a predisposed disease. Secondly, the latter should also be taught on how to make informed lifestyle decisions. African American patients, as well as those who are not infected, need to have an understanding of hyperglycemia. This understanding would allow them to carry out self-administration of medication as well as caring for themselves in terms of lifestyle.

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