Research Project Essay

Winning the Fight Against Diabetes in African Americans
Rebecca Louis
October 20, 2014
Monroe College
PH605-144 - Behavioral & Social Aspects of Public Health
Professor Christine Freaney

Abstract
The overall purpose of this paper is to explain what diabetes is, identify a specific population that is affected, and to discuss preventative measures against its spread. An explanation of how developmental and social practices serve as a danger to the spread of the disease and/or defensive variables will also be discussed. Diabetes, regularly referred to by endocrinologists as diabetes mellitus, depicts a gathering of systemic maladies where an individual has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either in light of the fact that insulin creation is deficient, or on the grounds that the body's cells don't react legitimately to insulin, or both. Patients with high glucose will commonly experience polyuria (successive urination), progressive parchedness (polydipsia), and hunger (polyphagia).

Winning the Fight Against Diabetes in African Americans
Diabetes is an ailment that arises when blood glucose levels are over their regular state. The vast majority of the eatables we consume is transformed into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for vitality. The pancreas, an organ that lies close to the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the corpuscles of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn't make enough insulin or can't utilize its own particular insulin and additionally it should be able to. This reasons sugar to develop in your blood. Diabetes can result in genuine wellbeing matters including coronary illness, difficulty seeing, kidney stoppage, and amputations involving the lower half of the body. This disease accounts for the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
The relationship between the biological factor pathway and the major behavioral factors influencing the diabetes process and/or health outcomes are as follows: when individuals consume high quantities of sugar and cholesterol within a short period of time, this causes the body to work overtime to process and digest the consumables. Depending on an individual’s body type and weight, processing times may vary. When these types of foods are not digested properly, an individual may run the risk of gaining high cholesterol or diabetes and may not even be aware of what is going on with their body. When situations like this occur, especially to individuals who come from rural areas, an issue of concern is whether they are able to access the same type of health care as an individual from a more suburban area or easier accessibility to healthcare. And if they are able to have similar access, will they utilize it?
The unfortunate reality of today’s society is that “many patients, particularly rural minority patients, however, do not achieve their recommended levels of care” (Bray et al., 2013). It goes to say that if minority patients were demographically located closer to suburban or city environments, they’d have closer access to health care. But, demographics are not the only area of concern for these patients. Bray et al. (2013) also mention that “rural Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes mellitus reported fewer physician visits than urban patients, whereas others have shown that low-income, rural patients with diabetes are more likely to receive care from a primary care physician than from a specialist”. Depending on the type of health insurance coverage, some of these patients are unable to also receive proper care because not only are they unaware that sometimes all it takes is a referral from their primary care physician to see a specialist, but the referral visit may not be covered by their insurance and the costs are un-affordable. This ultimately leaves patients in a bind and should pose the question to community-based health practices of whether patients should be able to have diabetes wellness

Show More