"Diabetes Crisis Grips Southern California" by Mile Corwin Article Summary
In “Diabetes Crisis Grips Southern California”, Mile Corwin (2017) reports on the prevalence rate of diabetes in California. The author highlights the issues of the growing rate of diabetic adults in the state and the importance of education in copying with and preventing the disease. According to the UCLA Center for Health Policy and Research, there has been a 35-percent increase in the rate of diabetes since 2001 (Corwin, 2007). While nearly 13 million Californian adults have diabetes or pre-diabetes, there are also 2.5 million people who have been diagnosed with the illness, making up approximately 40 percent of the California population in total (Corwin, 2017). Nationwide, annual medical costs for people having diabetes are about twice that for individuals without the illness (Corwin, 2017). If a person is diagnosed with the disease by the age of 40, one’s lifetime medical costs will increase by $124,600, as compared to non-diabetic people (Corwin, 2017). In addition, the diabetes rate among the elderly is predicted to sharply increase in the near future. Nearly 45 percent of Californian adults have undiagnosed diabetes or pre-diabetes, and about 30 percent of them will have type 2 diabetes during the next five years (Corwin, 2017).
Diabetes is characterized by the body’s failure to produce the sufficient amount of insulin and by the resulting increased levels of blood sugar (Corwin, 2017). The untreated illness can cause heart disease, hypertension, strokes, kidney disorders, amputations, blindness, and death (Corwin, 2017). According to Sarah Cooke, a dietitian working at Loma Linda University Medical Center, nearly 70 percent of patients entering the Center have diabetes, and elderly people are especially vulnerable (Corwin, 2017). Cooke, who conducts a weekly class designed to deal with the diabetes crisis, states that it is important to contact people and properly educate them as soon as they are diagnosed (Corwin, 2017). She also says that many people have suffered from diabetes for quite a long time, but they have never taken a class or spoken to a dietitian (Corwin, 2017). Furthermore, Cooke’s nine years of practice has shown an increase in the rate of pre-diabetes in younger patients, whose disease effects become more pronounced with age (Corwin, 2017). The dietitian attributes this increase to fast food, sodas, coffee drinks, and sugars consumed by a lot of younger people, as well as to their sedentary mode of life (Corwin, 2017). The importance of education, exercise, and healthy eating is also emphasized by endocrinologist Theodore Friedman, who conducts a weekly class for mostly senior diabetics (Corwin, 2017). Dr. Friedman has discovered elderly patients’ greater amenability to changes in habits, in comparison with younger people (Corwin, 2017).
In Los Angeles County, the rate of diabetic adults is nearly 10 percent higher than the average rate in the state (Corwin, 2017). Diabetes classes are offered by the county Health Department, but impoverished patients do not have the means to attend the classes on a regular basis. As an alternative, classes …
