The Disproportionate Burden of Diabetes in the Latino Community

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The emergence of type-2 diabetes mellitus within the last few decades is a major contributor to the growing rates of morbidity and mortality in the US and globally. The diabetes epidemic at the global level is attributed to changes in food consumption, lack of physical exercise, and a lifestyle often characterized as “western,” (Wolfs 2009) referring to the high-caloric diets and behavioral qualities of populations in developed countries such as the United States and Europe. The number of people diagnosed with type-2 diabetes worldwide is 180 million with the figure expected to increase by 100 percent by 2030 (Wolf 2009). In the U.S. type-2 diabetes affects approximately 29 million people or 8.3 percent of the population. Increasingly, non-white populations in the U.S. bear a disproportionate burden of this chronic illness compared with the general population. The prevalence of diabetes in Latinos is almost 1.9 times greater than in non-Hispanic whites and greater than in African-Americans (Caballero 2005). For the Latinos, the largest and fastest growing minority group in the U.S., the morbidity figures alone necessitate further investigation into management of diabetes and control of prevalence and incidence. Recent developments in modern genetics such as the identification of previously unknown genetic loci associated with type-2 diabetes through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) could prove decisive and promising in the clinical management of diabetes and the control of its prevalence and incidence. However, genetic intervention also raises a number of concerns. The following report aims to address some of the critical concerns that arise from the intervention of modern genetics in the prevention and treatment... ... middle of paper ... ... Problems and Possibilities of Modern Genetics: A Paradigm for Social, Ethical, and Political Analysis. (The Brookings Institute in The Future of the Constitution Series, 2001: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2011/7/05%20genetics%20cohen%20george/0705_genetics_cohen_george.pdf) M.G.M. Wolfs, et. al. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: New Genetic Insights will Lead to New Therapeutics. Current Genomics. 10, 110-118 (2009). Terry K. Bertin, et. al. Origins of Hispanics: Implications for Dibetes. Diabetes Care. Vol. 14 No. 7, Suppl 3. July 1991. Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, et. al. The Role of Acculturation , Lifestyle, and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes among Latinos. The Journal of Nutrition. 2007. SIGMA Type 2 Diabetes Consortium. Sequence variants in SLC16A11 are a common risk factor for type 2 diabetes in Mexico. Nature. Vol. 000 2013. 1-15.

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