Racial Disparities in Care for Diabetes

Have you wondered how COVID-19 impacted cities, particularly New York City? During quarantine, many studies showed how minorities, especially low-income, had an increased chance of potentially dying compared to other races. The increased rate has to do with diabetes, caused by wage gaps and environmental factors. Diabetes causes a high death rate in minorities as they don’t have the resources to control their diabetes and the fluctuating blood sugar control due to the lack of health literacy or awareness. As a result, many minorities had an increased death rate from COVID-19 because they didn’t have the resources to control or sustain their diabetic issues. 

What is diabetes mellitus? Diabetes Mellitus, or type 2, is when the pancreas doesn’t supply and create enough insulin for the bloodstream. Many minorities, particularly African Americans, are more prone to contracting diabetes. African Americans have double the  chance of developing Diabetes due to biological factors accounting for much of the disparity: waist measurement, glucose levels, lipids, blood pressure, and lung function. Due to significant wage gaps, many minorities, such as African Americans, don’t have access to health care, nutritional foods, or spaces that lend themselves to physical activity. Additionally, African Americans have low incomes due to the wage gap, and there is typically a decrease in college education amongst African Americans. Fast food and Junk food are always much cheaper than their healthier and more nutritious counterparts. These conclusions have supported the idea that discrimination from the 1930s has caused poverty, lack of education, and quality of care for African Americans. Therefore, the wage gap between African Americans and their White counterparts has led to Africans' increased chance of diabetes mellitus.

Typically, due to Segregation in the 1930s, African Americans have resided in communities that have increased rates of air pollution, thereby increasing the chance of diabetes. Anne Weaver, a population health data scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), concluded that air pollution plays a role in the development of diabetes in African Americans, with some evidence showing long-term exposure to ozone and those who have diabetes. Additionally, inflammation from fine particles in air pollution also contributes to the increased rates of diabetes. Also, zip codes determine the status of diabetic care. Zip codes showcase the level of median household income, displaying neighborhood disadvantages within communities that tend to be filled with minorities. As a result of the low median income, there are low health literacy rates and education rates. Low-level zip codes showcase the difficulties of the citizens, whether it be transportation or cost difficulties, and these issues contribute to the high levels of diabetes among minorities. Due to environmental issues or issues in their community, African Americans have issues getting to the health care office due to the cost of transportation and difficulties, and communities have an increased rate of diabetes because of air pollution and other pollutants. Due to the neglect and mistreatment of African Americans and other minorities throughout the history of the United States, through segregation and discrimination, there has been an increased level of diabetes among minorities.