Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn't make enough insulin or can't use its own insulin as well as it should. This causes sugar to build up in your blood.

Diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. (Source: CDC)

Diabetes is the third leading cause of death in African Americans in Lucas County. It is the sixth leading cause of death in Whites. (Source: ODH Information Warehouse)

12% of Lucas County adults had been diagnosed with diabetes, increasing to 22% of African Americans.
(Source: 2007 Lucas County Health Assessment)



Diabetes can indeed “run in families," meaning that heredity often makes someone more likely to develop diabetes. Researchers believe that certain genes affecting immune response can play a role in the development of type 1 diabetes, while genes affecting insulin function can contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. While African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islander Americans have a slightly lower rate of type 1 diabetes, they are at a higher risk for type 2 diabetes than the rest of the population.

Many researchers think that some African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islander Americans inherited a "thrifty gene" which helped their ancestors store food energy better during times when food was plentiful, to survive during times when food was scarce. Now that “feast or famine” situations rarely occurs for most people in the United States, the gene which was once helpful may now put these groups at a higher risk for type 2 diabetes.

In addition, poverty, lack of access to health care, cultural attitudes and behaviors are barriers to preventive and diabetes management care for some minority Americans. (Source: CDC)


Ohio Diabetes Statistics

Diabetes mellitus is the 6th leading cause of death in Ohio.

Diagnosed Diabetes Prevalence for Ohio Adults by Gender, 2005-2007
Gender Estimated Percent and Number of Persons with Diabetes

(Source: Ohio Diabetes Fact Sheet 2005-2007)