The fourth issue of our Hispanic Equity Brief series, Diabetes among U.S. Hispanics, provides an overview of the latest trends in diagnoses, treatment, survival rates, and mortality. Racial/ethnic and geographic differences in outcomes may reflect variations in risk factors, service availability, and the health infrastructure across the U.S. While an estimated 5 million U.S. Hispanic adults had received a diabetes diagnosis, an additional 1.9 million were unaware of their diagnosis in 2021. Overall, the prevalence of diabetes continues to be particularly high among Hispanic and Black adults 18 and over.
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Over the past decades, there has been an overall increase in diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes among all groups in the U.S., primarily attributed to a sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diets, aging of the population, rising rates of obesity, and genetic factors. Left untreated, diabetes causes severe damage to the kidney and cardiovascular system. Economic instability, lack of access to care, low health literacy, genetic predisposition, and other social and structural factors contribute to racial/ethnic diabetes inequities in the onset, diagnosis, treatment, and mortality.
Research is needed on various aspects to improve diabetes prevention, treatment, and management. In particular, there is a need for a better understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms leading to Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, biomarkers for early detection, personalized management tools to improve glucose control, and mechanisms leading to diabetes-related co-morbidities.
Policy and funding recommendations to address disparities in diabetes prevalence and outcomes among different racial and ethnic groups include funding culturally tailored prevention programs, expanding access to diabetes preventive services for the uninsured or underinsured, increasing access to affordable care regardless of immigration status, enhancing national and state food and nutrition policies (e.g., school food policies, subsidies for healthy foods, SNAP), and integrating diabetes prevention and care into primary and specialty care.
[Click here for the full brief]