Texas Problems: Diagnosis of Diabetes | TPR

Editor’s Note: Diagnosis Diabetes was created as a project funded by USC Annenberg. Health Journalism Center2022 Impact Fund for reporting on health inequalities and health care systems.

There is almost no doubt that you or someone near you has diabetes.

Diabetes is widespread. The CDC estimates that nearly 40 million Americans have it. That’s about 1 in 10 people. Diabetes and its complications are more common and more serious in low-income Americans and people of color.

Another problem is this trend. Even young children, even five-year-olds, have been diagnosed with diabetes. This was unprecedented 20 years ago. And by 2060, diabetes diagnosed in the United States is projected to nearly triple, and prevalence will double and one-fifth.

People diagnosed with diabetes cost more than twice the average cost of medical care as people without diabetes.according to National Diabetes Statistics ReportIn the United States last year, diabetes cost an estimated $ 400 billion in medical costs and lost jobs and wages.

But there are also amazing human costs. In the United States, diabetes is the leading cause of renal failure, amputation of the lower extremities, and blindness in adults and the leading cause of death, including death from COVID-19.

With these dire and horrifying statistics in mind that type 2 diabetes can be prevented, there is a serious discontinuity between the magnitude of the crisis and the response to it.

In fact, factors that exacerbate childhood type 2 diabetes have been established, including the lack of affordable health foods in low-income areas, the sale of junk food to children, and misleading food labels, says professor William. Dr. Herman said. At the University of Michigan School of Medicine.

“Candies that are 100% sugar are advertised as non-fat foods. Sugar drinks are touted as an excellent source of vitamin C because they contain small amounts of vitamin C. That is, this is healthy. You’ll get a message that it’s a typical drink, but it’s basically sugar water, “Harman said.

Herman also evaluated and provided recommendations for improving federal programs related to complex metabolic or autoimmune diseases that represent significant disease burden in the United States between 2018 and 2021 National Clinical Care. I was the chairman of the committee.

“Living in an area with fast food stores and convenience stores increases the risk of diabetes, and if there is a full-service grocery store in the area or area where you live, the risk of type 2 diabetes is low. It will be, “Harman said. ..

“It’s the same with homes. It’s the same with parks and recreational facilities. Substandard homes — people living in substandard homes suffer from more diabetes, and more people living in neighborhoods without parks and recreational facilities. I have diabetes, “he said.

The National Clinical Care Commission issued a report to Congress in 2021 calling for an “all-in” government approach to prevent diabetes, which admits it is a social problem. The report recommends the creation of a federal office of diabetes policy to develop a national strategy for combating diabetes that utilizes parts of the government that are not normally associated with the fight against disease.

“FDAEPA for agriculture, transportation, housing, urban development sectors, clean water. Therefore, we address diabetes as a social problem,” Harman said.

But so far, the recommendations have not yet made significant changes to public policy to address the rising costs of type 2 diabetes.

That is, if there is no national strategy to help people eat healthier, be more active and manage diabetes, work will have to be done in small increments. Recognizing the problem of diabetes and demanding action will bring the community together.

This allows us to focus on raising awareness of the prevalence and health complications of type 2 diabetes. To find out more about what people think about diabetes, the risks of diabetes and how it affects them, we work with the community at Woodlawn Lake Park in San Antonio on Saturday spring morning. The we.

Sandra Smith was walking for exercise and said: My dad had it. My grandmother. I have two diabetic brothers. “

Diabetes is so present in her immediate family that Sandra is certainly at risk of it. But she said she wasn’t really aware of it.

“I knew I was in my family, but I didn’t have it, so I wasn’t paying attention. But now I’m like prediabetes and I’m trying to do that. Go to a nutritionist. So I’ve talked about what to eat, so it’s my hardship, sophisticated things, chips, cookies, no, as you know, I have cookies, but a pack of cookies Not the whole thing, “she said.

According to the CDC, one in three people in the United States has prediabetes. This means that they are at high risk of developing full-blown type 2 diabetes and need to know the risk, so they can try to avoid it. But most people don’t know they have prediabetes. A simple blood test detects high levels of sugar in the blood, which is an indicator of prediabetes. However, in Texas, many people do not have health insurance or a family doctor, so they are not tested and cannot change their lifestyle accordingly.

Mary Estrada is a nurse in the park. She says she saw an increase in type 2 diabetes. Especially for children.

“I think education should start at home. I think it’s possible. I think a little education is available in elementary school because many children are obese,” she said.

In Texas, 20% of adolescents aged 10 to 17 are obese, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Obesity Report. There is a close relationship between obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, this relationship is complex and requires further investigation. However, we know that being obese is a risk factor for diabetes.

Dr. Lindsay Irvin, a pediatrician in San Antonio, also sees a trend in childhood type 2 diabetes, she says, partly because of the food we give our children.

“I’m furious with this. It’s destroying our children. It’s destroying their lives. In my practice, no child can eat an American diet. There’s no one, they’ll hit the wall at some point. They can’t eat this food. It wasn’t made for human consumption, “she said.

To help children understand that this rich and delicious food is all a threat to them, Dr. Irvin utilizes old fairy tales, Hansel and Gretel.

“Then I ask the children,’Well, what did the witch want to do with the children?'” And they go, “She wanted to eat them.” They said, I loved that idea. And I’m just like this, as you know, sugar companies don’t want you to be healthy. Your mom wants you to be healthy. I want you to be healthy. You know, the video game industry doesn’t care. What happens to you when you are 80, they just want you to play the game. They just want money and get it. They fully understand it, “she said.

According to a study conducted in San Antonio, childhood type 2 diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate, but it is even more aggressive. Even with treatment, these children can develop complications such as blindness, amputation, and dialysis before they reach middle age, said Dr. Jane Lynch, a pediatric endocologist at UT Health San Antonio. I am saying. She was the Principal Investigator for a groundbreaking study called “Treatment Options for Type 2 Diabetes in Adolescents and Adolescents,” also known as the TODAY Study.

“I argue that the younger age probably reflects a higher risk of complications and complications, and based on our data from today’s study, the age of onset is 10 to 17 years. These children, who have progressed to the risk of complications and have an average of 12 beta cell disorders that cannot be managed with oral medications alone, are the number of that first stage of our study today. “Months,” Lynch said.

This means that diabetic complications, such as loss of vision, kidney disease, and angiopathy, which normally take 18 to 20 years in adults, develop much more quickly and aggressively in children with type 2 diabetes.