Is Diabetes an Epidemic in Black America?

How DIABETES Is Ravaging The African-American Community

* Thirteen percent (3.2 million) of all African-Americans aged 20 years or older have diabetes.

* Twenty-five percent of African-Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have diabetes.

* African-Americans are 1.8 times more likely than Whites to have diabetes.

* One in 4 African-American women over 55 years of age has diabetes.

* African-Americans are almost twice as likely as Whites to develop diabetic retinopathy (blindness).

* African-Americans are as much as 5.6 times more likely than Whites to suffer from kidney disease as a result of diabetes complications.

* African-Americans are 2.7 times more likely than Whites to suffer from lower-limb amputations.

Source: American Diabetes Association

COPYRIGHT 2007 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group

This info is from an interesting article I ran across this weekend - Charles

LookSmart's FindArticles - Is diabetes an epidemic in Black America? The growing number of cases indicates the problem has reached a new level

Ebony, March, 2007, by Kevin Chappell