Title: Health Disparities that Affect the African American Community | Ultius
Headings: Health Disparities that Affect the African American Community
Essay Writing Samples
Health Disparities that Affect the African American Community
African-American community health disparities
African-Americans and Heart disease
African-Americans and diabetes
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Content: Type 1 diabetes is heredity, and the condition is caused by an autoimmune disease that attacks the pancreas, which makes insulin in the human body. In contrast, Type 2 diabetes is commonly caused by obesity, which is the number one risk factor for acquiring this health disparity. The American Heart Association (2013) found that
“African Americans are disproportionately affected by obesity, as 63 percent of black men and 77 percent of black women are overweight. Unfortunately, if an African American does not develop diabetes from an autoimmune disease or from being overweight, the disease may be caused by a genetic mutation of the R145C variant of the ApoE gene, which is also responsible for causing heart disease” (American Heart Association, 2013). As a result, these risk factors have made diabetes a highly prevalent disease in the African American community. Diabetes has been known to be a leading cause of death in African Americans. The CDC (2013) found that diabetes is the fourth contributing factor in the deaths of members of this population, as 4.9 million blacks have the disease. Specifically,
“15 percent of all African Americans age 20 and older have one type of diabetes” (American Heart Association, 2013). Therefore, the high prevalence of this disease makes it a deadly health disparity for the African American community. When examining the rates of heart disease and diabetes in the African American community, one can posit that socioeconomic and cultural factors contribute to the prevalence of these two health disparities.