Location
Suwanee, GA
Start Date
6-5-2025 1:00 PM
End Date
6-5-2025 4:00 PM
Description
Introduction: More than 37 million people in the United States have diabetes, the majority 90-95% with type 2 diabetes. The social determinants of health (SDH) are the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. These forces and systems include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies and political systems. The SDH have an important influence on health inequities - the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries. In countries at all levels of income, health and illness follow a social gradient: the lower the socioeconomic position, the worse the health. Research has demonstrated that diabetes affects racial and ethnic minority and low-income adult populations in the U.S. disproportionately. Clinical observations in a free medical clinic suggested the hypothesis that diabetic patients have social determinants that affect their ability to control their diabetes.
Methods: A random sample of patients seen at Grace Village Medical Clinic (DeKalb County, GA) with previously diagnosed diabetes, were asked a survey of questions in regard to the five domains of social determinants of health. Each patient was asked questions in their native tongue through an interpreter; regarding their income, education, access to health care and grocery stores, mental wellbeing, compliance with medication, and their understanding of diabetes. The averages of the results were looked at to determine the prevalence of the social determinants domains in these patients.
Results: 29 patients were assessed, 16 female and 13 male. Ages ranged from 27 to 87. 15 patients (51.7%) had an education less than high school and 10 (34.5%) had an education level of high school. 9 patients (31%) had a monthly income of 0, 10 (34.5%) had a monthly income of $1001-2000, and 4 (13.8%) had either $1-1000 or 2001-3000.
23 patients (79.3%) were unemployed. A majority did have access to healthier foods and grocery stores being 17 (58.6%) and 20 (69%). Only two patient’s primary language was English with 21 (72.4%) of patients not understanding or speaking English. 31% of patients did not feel supported in their community and 65.5% of patients felt a stressor at home. Only 55.2% of patients had adequate transportation to healthcare and grocery stores. 29.6% of patients were not compliant with medication. 44.4% of patients were not properly informed about diabetes by a healthcare professional.
Conclusions: This discussion illustrates the importance of understanding the different factors that can contribute to a patient’s diagnosis of diabetes. In the different fields of medicine, it is important to recognize how a patient’s wellbeing, lifestyle, and education can contribute to the persistence of diabetes and its potential long-term complications such as neuropathy, retinopathy and nephropathy. This highlights the significance of resources and education necessary to provide that patients can be treated with adequate care and help.
Embargo Period
5-28-2025
Included in
Social determinants of health in patients with Diabetes Mellitus II
Suwanee, GA
Introduction: More than 37 million people in the United States have diabetes, the majority 90-95% with type 2 diabetes. The social determinants of health (SDH) are the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. These forces and systems include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies and political systems. The SDH have an important influence on health inequities - the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries. In countries at all levels of income, health and illness follow a social gradient: the lower the socioeconomic position, the worse the health. Research has demonstrated that diabetes affects racial and ethnic minority and low-income adult populations in the U.S. disproportionately. Clinical observations in a free medical clinic suggested the hypothesis that diabetic patients have social determinants that affect their ability to control their diabetes.
Methods: A random sample of patients seen at Grace Village Medical Clinic (DeKalb County, GA) with previously diagnosed diabetes, were asked a survey of questions in regard to the five domains of social determinants of health. Each patient was asked questions in their native tongue through an interpreter; regarding their income, education, access to health care and grocery stores, mental wellbeing, compliance with medication, and their understanding of diabetes. The averages of the results were looked at to determine the prevalence of the social determinants domains in these patients.
Results: 29 patients were assessed, 16 female and 13 male. Ages ranged from 27 to 87. 15 patients (51.7%) had an education less than high school and 10 (34.5%) had an education level of high school. 9 patients (31%) had a monthly income of 0, 10 (34.5%) had a monthly income of $1001-2000, and 4 (13.8%) had either $1-1000 or 2001-3000.
23 patients (79.3%) were unemployed. A majority did have access to healthier foods and grocery stores being 17 (58.6%) and 20 (69%). Only two patient’s primary language was English with 21 (72.4%) of patients not understanding or speaking English. 31% of patients did not feel supported in their community and 65.5% of patients felt a stressor at home. Only 55.2% of patients had adequate transportation to healthcare and grocery stores. 29.6% of patients were not compliant with medication. 44.4% of patients were not properly informed about diabetes by a healthcare professional.
Conclusions: This discussion illustrates the importance of understanding the different factors that can contribute to a patient’s diagnosis of diabetes. In the different fields of medicine, it is important to recognize how a patient’s wellbeing, lifestyle, and education can contribute to the persistence of diabetes and its potential long-term complications such as neuropathy, retinopathy and nephropathy. This highlights the significance of resources and education necessary to provide that patients can be treated with adequate care and help.