Biological determinants refer to the anatomic, physical, or
medical/clinical reason that a problem might exist. Pertaining to my problem definition, a
biological determinant of type 2 diabetes in children would be obesity. Being overweight or diagnosed with diabetes. In a report, Chronic Disease—Diabetes At A Glance (2011), published by the CDC
discussing diabetes, it stated, “Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90-95% of
diabetes cases and is usually associated with…obesity and physical inactivity,
family history of type 2 diabetes…” Type
2 diabetes is caused by obesity and in the American Heart Association’s most
recent report (2013) states “23.9 million children ages 2 to 19 are overweight
or obese”. This high and rising rate of
obesity prevalence among children will eventually lead to type 2 diabetes
development. Another biological
determinant is the child’s family medical history. Children are more susceptible to getting
diabetes if someone in their family has previously been diagnosed with
diabetes. Parents also have a huge
influence in their child’s weight.
Michelle L. Brandt (2004) reports from the Stanford Report that “the
factor that puts children at greatest risk of being overweight is having obese
parents.”
Social and
cultural determinant include social class, social environment, peer influences,
religion, ethnicity, norm of a particular group of people. The American Diabetes Association writes that
there are certain factors that make a person susceptible to type to diabetes
that a person cannot change about their self.
One of these things is race.
“African Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians, Native
Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Asian Americans have a higher risk for
(diabetes)”.
Environmental
determinants might include weather conditions, geography, air quality, levels of
pollution, urban living vs suburban living, and so forth. In the past few years a new term has emerged,
“food deserts”. The Johns Hopkins Center
for a Livable Future states that a food desert is an area that does not have
easy access to healthy foods, typically in the form of a supermarket. People living location can affect their
access to certain foods and could potentially affect their diet. In these food deserts, healthy food is
virtually unattainable and fast food is more easily accessible. Another environmental determinant could be
the safety of one’s living environment and ability to exercise outside or at a
local rec center.
Economic
determinants refers to issues related to money, but can be thought of both from
an individual level, but also as a community level. In the situation with diabetes, economical
and environmental determinants go hand in hand.
The people living in the food deserts are typically ones of lower socioeconomic
classes. These people do not have access
to healthy foods, but even if they did, the costs of those food would be too
high. Poorer people don’t always have
the best nutrition because they cannot afford the healthy foods that contribute
to a balanced diet. The CDC’s data
report called Obesity and Overweight for Professionals: Childhood (2013), that
“1 of 7 low-income children is obese.” When
low-income people are diagnosed with diabetes, it is extremely
detrimental. Andrea Janus (2010) reports
on the relationship between poverty and type 2 diabetes. “What we know about type 2 diabetes is not
only are low-income and poor people more likely to get it, but they’re also the
ones that, once they get it, are much more likely to suffer complications.”
Political
determinant are usually though of as the factors that occur because of the
executive, legislative, or judicial decisions, or behaviors that exist during a
particular time period. There are not
necessarily any specific political determinants that directly affect the cause
of type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents. One that could possibly fall under this
category is government funding for health insurance. If children are being raised in low-income
families, then the typically won’t get quality medical care or any medical care
at all. Medical care is important
because health professionals can educated the patients on diet and exercise and
can track a obesity problem in children and treat it before diabetes results.
Work Cited:
Your topic is really relavent to American public health today and I think you did a good job of comprehensively going through the many different determinants of why diabetes has emerged in the last 15 years. For your first biological determinant of obesity, instead of just stating obesity as the factor, you might want to specify that the rise in obesity is contributing to the emergence of diabetes, just to be more clear. For social and cultural influences, I would be cautious to say that race causes more susceptibility, as that might come off as insensitive. Perhaps just say that people of certain races have been found to have higher rates of the disease which may point to a link with ethnic values. Otherwise, I think your determinants are really thorough, particularly in regards to the economic and environmental issue of "food deserts".
ReplyDeleteZoey,
ReplyDeleteNice work this week. As asked in the assignment, you stated your problem definition before you began your post. You also covered several determinant categories, so I really think you're on your way. Regarding citations, I think you listed 5 sources at the end? They're sort of smooshed together...so, maybe put a space between them for the paper. For your internal citations, there are a few areas where I think you need to add internal citations. Also, be sure to add cite and date when you internally cite. We can talk more about this on Thursday, if you like! Oh, and one final thing I noticed: you stated that obesity causes diabetes. I'm just wondering if the American heart association said this? I'm always cautious around that word "cause". I'm not sure we can call obesity the cause of diabetes, but we can sure say it's associated with diabetes. That said, I'm interested in hearing where you found this. Overall, I think you're really on your way! Nice work.
Erin