Diabetes is a family issue and Nilka Ríos-Burrows knows.As an epidemiologist in the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC), the same message is usually repeated: diabetes can be prevented.His maternal uncles and aunts of Puerto Rico have the disease, and Ríos-Burrows is aware that she also runs the risk of suffering from it.That is why he puts his own advice into practice and performs preventive care to, if possible, keep the disease away.
According to the epidemiologist to Univision News, when his relatives were diagnosed with the disease, there was no “science that diabetes could be prevented”."I am at risk," said Ríos-Burrows, who has left soft drinks, limits carbohydrates and tries to add more vegetables to their meals.Exercise and control with the doctor regularly are other care that people at risk like her can do.
In addition to genetic predisposition, other risk factors include the lack of physical activity, overweight, age, diet and even ethnicity.While these factors are the same for all populations, Hispanics and other minorities are more predisposed to be diagnosed with diabetes.It is estimated that half of all Hispanics- both men as women- will develop the disease.
In 2013, diabetes was the seventh main cause of death in the United States, where more than 200 thousand people die every year due to this disease, according to a report that CDC publishes every two years.Its estimates indicate that more than 29 million people in the country suffer from diabetes, diagnosed or not.That number is higher than the total population of the state of Texas.
In turn, it is estimated that 86 million adults in the United States have prediabetes, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. It is also believed that about 8 million people suffer from diabetes and do not know.
In the last three decades the number of adults with diabetes practically quadrupled and predictions based on the latest data say that by 2050 one in three adults in the country could have diabetes.
Specialists say that for those who do not have money it is much more difficult to eat healthy.
One of the reasons that explain why there are more people with diabetes is that those who have the disease now live longer, due to improvements in personal management practices and advance in health care services, says the report.
CDC also suggest that the last numbers are good news: the diabetes epidemic could be slowly decreasing.However, this is not the case for minorities.The Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic population and those with a lower than secondary education do not follow the same trend.
According to the last report of the CDC, which is based on the most recent national data on diabetes, 12.8% of people with diabetes are Hispanic, compared to 7.6% of non-Hispanic whites.
But the trend could also change in the population of Latin origin, Ríos-Burrows emphasized.The first step is to be informed about how to prevent the disease from developing.
On a general level, the National Plan of Healthy People 2020 (Healthy People 2020) establishes some of the objectives in terms of preventive care practices against diabetes, in order to reduce the number of people with this disease in that year.These include from an examination of the dilated eye, foot exam, to blood glucose controls.
But one of the preventive measures that is also recommended is to attend diabetes personal management classes, an instance in which patients learn, for example, how to control the levels of a daily basis;about the consequences of the disease and howRecognize symptoms.
Mutual support
The most recent meeting of the Group of Hispanic patients who once joined the Clinic of the Race, in California, focused on how to recognize and act in front of a stroke, one of the possible consequences of diabetes.
The group of around 15 people, formed mainly by women and where everyone speaks Spanish- sometimes as the only language- meets monthly in Fruitvale, in one of the centers of the clinic.The organization, a network of 40 primary and preventive care services centers, serves more than 91,000 patients in three Calaifornia counties.Patients attending the clinic are usually Hispanics, with or without medical insurance, and with or without documents, but all have something in common: low economic resources.
Many Hispanics reject insulin, for fear of causing them some complication.
"I think that the difficulties of these patients have to do with money, housing and violence, if they live in a neighborhood that is not safe," News Carlos Flores, health educator at the clinic, told Univision.Flores is the one who leads the Personal Diabetes Management Group along with a doctor and a medical assistant.
Flores explained that for those who do not have money it is more difficult to eat healthy, avoiding stress related to housing, money, children and the environment.For example, it is difficult to exercise in a neighborhood that is not certain, said Flores.
Monthly classes have a central theme, such as stroke, and in turn patients have the opportunity to meet individually with the doctor, who usually monitors the disease and medicines, or derive them to other clinics or laboratories.People can also control their blood sugar levels, weight and blood pressure.
Overcome insulin
According to Flores, another of the issues on which these meetings are emphasized is that of insulin, one of the treatments that the Latin population usually looks with skepticism."Most people in the group do not want insulin," said Flores, who explained that there are different myths around it.
There are those who fear that insulin cause blindness, or associate it with drug abuse, or fear the complications of insulin in general."I think that much of this has to do with the experience of people with relatives in their own countries," who die shortly after starting treatment.However, this is because when insulin gives the patient, the health educator explained.
It is important that diabetics have a support network to share their concerns.
Flores said that in the group it is about talking about insulin as much as possible, and the benefits of this injectable."Basically, we try to normalize it," added Flores, who said that the message of the American Diabetes Association is that most people diagnosed with the disease will need insulin at some point.
In fact, there have been some "success cases" of some patients who have started insulin treatment after listening to the experience of other patients.
The interaction with other patients, and even with their families, is another positive aspects of these classes, said Flores, who said that ultimately the instance works as a support group where participants, who share the same concerns, oftenThey become friends.