They announce results of Spanish survey and their attitudes towards diabetes

As part of the American Diabetes Month, the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (National Alliance for the Health of Hispanics, the Alliance) announced the results of a survey of Hispanic adults and their attitudes towards diabetes.
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The results showed that, although there is general awareness about the disease, Hispanics with diabetes are more likely to worry that, in addition to themselves, someone in their families develops diabetes, compared to white and black non -Hispanic blacks with diabetes.

According to Prnewswire-Hispanic PR Wire, the survey was carried out with the support of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Bipi) and Eli Lilly and Company (Nyse: Lly).

"Diabetes has played the lives of millions of Hispanic families," said Jane L. Delgado, Ph.D., M.S., president and executive director of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health."The perceptions achieved with our survey confirm that diabetes is a concern for many Hispanics and will help improve educational support and efforts to handle diabetes. These efforts are fundamental, especially considering that Hispanics are almost twice as a probabilityof being diagnosed with diabetes compared to non -Hispanic whites. "

A majority of Hispanics surveyed said they knew someone with diabetes and worried that a relative could develop diabetes.

More than two thirds of Hispanics with diabetes (64 percent) reported that they knew someone with diabetes, compared to non -Hispanic whites (77 percent) and non -Hispanic blacks (69 percent).

Hispanics with diabetes are more likely to worry that, in addition to themselves, someone in their families can develop diabetes, (68 percent compared to 52 and 53 percent for non -Hispanic whites and non -Hispanic blacks with diabetes,respectively).

Hispanic respondents were less likely to believe that a person can live a healthy life with diabetes (86 percent of those with diabetes compared to 96 percent of non -Hispanic whites and 89 percent of non -Hispanic whites with diabetes).

Of Hispanic respondents with diabetes, 77 percent said that health care providers are their most reliable source of information regarding concerns regarding health.However, the survey found that:

- Of 98 percent of Hispanics with diabetes who said that a person can take actions to control diabetes, only 12 percent cited regular visits to a health care provider as an action to handle the disease;similar to non -Hispanic whites (10 percent) and non -Hispanic blacks (11 percent).

- Only one in four (25 percent) Hispanics with diabetes responded "no" or "I don't know" when asked if the doctor or other health care provider had told him the type of diabetes they had;almost double that for non -Hispanic whites (17 percent) and less than for non -Hispanic blacks (34 percent).

The survey revealed that among Hispanic respondents there is a broad knowledge of the symptoms and causes of diabetes.But, given the highest rate at which the Hispanic community is afflicted by this disease, better educational efforts are required to increase awareness.

Among the respondents:

- 73 percent of Hispanics with diabetes could name a cause of diabetes;However, this rate was lower than for non -Hispanic whites (89 percent) and non -Hispanic blacks (83 percent).

- More than a third of Hispanics without diabetes (38 percent) could not name a symptom of diabetes;similar to non -Hispanic and non -Hispanic blacks (33 percent).

Of theRespondents, 87 percent of Hispanics with diabetes believe that a person can take actions to prevent diabetes compared to 80 percent of non -Hispanic whites and 69 percent of non -Hispanic blacks.However, when asked about diabetes prevention forms, the maintenance of a healthy weight was mentioned only by 16 percent of Hispanics with diabetes compared to 25 percent of non -Hispanic whites and the8 percent of non -Hispanic blacks with diabetes.

Although almost all Hispanic respondents with diabetes said that a person with diabetes can take measures to control their disease (98 percent), some key practices for disease management were identified by less than half of the respondents:

- Stay physically active (30 percent)

- Take prescribed medications (37 percent)

- Maintain a healthy weight (6 percent)

- Monitor blood sugar (3 percent)

"The survey showed us that there are specific areas within education and awareness about diabetes that need to be addressed to increase awareness among Hispanics," said Dr. Luis Salmun, executive director of Executives of Health Sciences,Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

"The valuable information we obtained will help us develop educational tools and resources that are relevant and significant for the Hispanic community."