Disparities in healthcare: Diabetes outcomes among low-income individuals living in Texas

The ballooning epidemic of chronic diseases in general, and diabetes in particular, is representative of the changes in health and disease in the twenty-first century. Despite these drastic disease burden changes towards more chronic conditions, disparities persist among low-income populations. The purpose of this research is to explore what marks the disparities in diabetes using Texas public health data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the world's largest telephone survey. SAS analyses were executed to compare socioeconomic factors with diabetes complications. By comparing diabetes with demographic data and other comorbidities this research found how strong of an association exists between critical diseases like cardiovascular disease. The results demonstrated people living below the poverty line were 6.78 times (95% CI 6.06, 7.59) more likely to be uninsured as compared to people living above the poverty line. Insurance in America is the gateway to preventative health services. It follows that the poor are at a heightened risk for mismanaged blood sugar in diabetes, which leads to gaping disparities in diabetes complications. In better understanding what marks these disparities, the hope is improve health care for the poor and marginalized.