Diabetes (DM) in African Americans (AA) and minorities is reaching epidemic proportions. Although AA comprise 12% of the United States population, 20% of all persons with DM are AA. Of the 16 million Americans with DM, 2-3 million are AA. In Ohio, 3% of the population has DM, of this 15% are AA. Nationally, the economic cost of DM was $100 billion in 1992, the corresponding cost was $5 million in Ohio. Over the last decade the incident and prevalent rate of DM have increased 2-3 fold. DM is the forth leading cause of death to AA. In addition, AA with DM suffer more disproportionately from the long term complications associated with DM, such as, end-stage renal disease (4-6 fold increase), blindness (2 fold increase), and lower extremity amputations (3-4 fold increase) when compared to whites. These numbers are similar both nationally and in Ohio. The reasons for the increased prevalent and incident rates of DM in AA have been attributed, in part, to the higher rates of obesity, physical inactivity and heredity. In addition, other factors such as, lack of access to health care, lower socioeconomic status and misconceptions and beliefs about the disease contribute to the long term complications of type 2 DM in these populations. Given the seriousness of the above issues we believe that increasing public awareness of the possibilities of preventing type 2 DM, will be invaluable. In this regard, strategies aimed at preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 DM diabetes are warranted in high risk AA and other minorities. To this end, we have proposed to conduct a conference Preventing Diabetes in African Americans and Minorities: The Hope for the Future, under the auspices of The Ohio State University, Prevention of Diabetes in African American Program. We believe, elucidation of the causes of type 2 DM and its associated risk factors could lead to lifestyle modifications and perhaps the prevention of type 2 DM in AA and other minorities. The proposed conference is unique because, in Central Ohio, we are not aware of any conferences that focus on preventing type 2 DM in AA or in other minority populations. We are hopeful that successful conference on preventing type 2 DM could become a national model for recruiting participants for regional and national type 2 DM prevention programs.
