Type 2 Diabetes

Among African American women, diabetes has reached epidemic proportions, with 1 in 4 black women 55 years and older having diabetes.

Of the 23.1 million adults who have been diagnosed with diabetes in the United States, 3 million are black. One-quarter of black women older than age 55 have diabetes, and nearly 12% of all black women aged 20 and older have the disease. What’s more, black people suffer greater consequences from the complications of diabetes. For example, they experience kidney failure four times more often than white Americans with diabetes. They’re twice as likely to suffer from diabetes-related blindness and more likely to experience amputations.1 Black women are especially at risk of diabetes due to the high prevalence of overweight and obesity, lack of physical activity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol among this population.

Diabetes not only affects black women in different ways genetically and physiologically, but they also cope with the disease within a distinct cultural context. Their relationships with health care providers, their approach to diet and exercise, their eating habits, even their spirituality and behavior patterns are unique—and all of this has an impact on how they approach a diabetes diagnosis and manage their health.

Diabetes in African American women: the silent epidemic - PubMed (nih.gov)