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A new poll released by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and also the Harvard School of Public Health recently discovered that Latinos see diabetes because the biggest health condition for his or her own families.
The researchers discovered that nearly 1 in 5 (19 percent) Latinos identified diabetes as the biggest health concern facing their own families, and cancer as the next most cited health concern by only one in 20 (5 percent) Latinos.
“These findings are surprising,” said Robert J. Blendon, Sc.D., Richard L. Menschel Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis in the Harvard School of Public Health, in a pr release. “Previous polls show that Latinos see cancer as the most important health problem facing the nation. But when asked about their own families, Latinos cite diabetes as the biggest problem.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), diabetes affects a disproportionately many Hispanic/Latino Americans. Hispanic people overall are 66 percent more likely than non-Hispanic whites to possess diabetes and tend to build up it at younger ages. Further, Hispanic adults are 1.Five times more likely to die from diabetes.
“It’s a positive that people are recognizing diabetes being an important ailment,” said Gloria Boland, certified diabetes educator and nurse at Advocate Condell Clinic in Libertyville, Ill. “Groups recognized as greater risk need to understand that adults with diabetes are two to 4 times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than those without diabetes, and once you are identified as having it, it’s a chronic ailment that must be carefully managed for the rest of your lifetime.”
This poll is part of an ongoing series sponsored through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in partnership with the Harvard School of Public Health insurance and NPR. A nationally representative sample of more than 1,400 Latinos, age 18 and also over, took part in the poll. The poll reports around the views and experiences of all Latinos, in addition to six separate Latino groups: those of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, South American and Central American heritage.
