Latinos’ Complicated Struggle against Diabetes

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About 3.2 million U.S. Latinos have diabetes.

And Latino kids have about a 50% lifetime risk of developing diabetes.

This makes diabetes a tremendous current and future threat to Latino health—but they way Latinos see this threat varies, according to a new survey.

The survey, from the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, shows that while there is general awareness of the disease, Latinos with diabetes are more likely than non-Latinos to worry that, besides themselves, someone in their family would develop diabetes.

But the survey also yielded some complicated findings.

For example, Latinos were more likely (87%) than whites (80%) to believe that a diabetic can take actions to prevent diabetes.

But fewer than half named key disease-management practices like being physically active (30%), taking prescribed medication (37%), maintaining a healthy weight (6%), and monitoring blood sugar (3%).

Less than 75% of Latinos with diabetes could name the disease’s cause, and 38% without diabetes could not name a disease symptom.

“Though awareness that diabetes is an issue for Hispanics appears to be at good levels within the community, experts indicate too much information about diabetes is still missing,” according to a VoxxiNews report about the survey. “Patients aren’t satisfactorily able to identify diabetes symptoms and risks, and individuals aren’t aware of simple dietary and physical activity-based precautions they can take to stay healthy.”