Type II Diabetes Mellitus
Type II DM (T2DM) is the most prevalent type of DM, accounting for over 90% of all diabetes …show more content…
Ultimately, this causes a high effect on the society, particularly children. Children with low SES are often more likely to experience multiple environmental and social risk factors which simultaneously predispose them to chronic illnesses including diabetes. For example, among a large sample of American men and women, those who were of a lower SES as children had an 80% greater risk of developing type II diabetes in their later life than those from a higher socioeconomic background. Furthermore, when factors such as adult educational attainment, income, occupation, body mass index, physical activity, and coping skills, in respect to SES, are put into consideration, the risk for T2DM between individuals from a low socioeconomic position and those from a higher socioeconomic background appears to double (Raphael, 2011). Similar findings have been reported among young UK women. Among women who were manual workers, evidence suggested a diabetes rate of 8.3% if their parents were also manual workers and 6% if their parents were non-manual workers and with a higher income. Among women who were non-manual workers, their diabetes rate was 4.9% if their parents were non-manual workers. However, the rate increased to 8.1% if their parents were manual workers (Raphael, 2011). In this way, childhood financial circumstances appear to be the primary predictor for the incidence of …show more content…
In Canada, rates of overweight and obesity among children have more than doubled in past decades, with the most recent estimates indicating that about 30% of Canadian children are either overweight or obese (Veugelers & Fitzgerald, 2005). Consequently, with a rise in obesity, there is an observable increase in the incidence of childhood T2DM, hypertension, and increased blood cholesterol which were previously seen primarily in older adults. Insufficient physical activity and poor nutrition are widely acknowledged as the primary mechanisms underlying this rise in excess body weight among low-income households (Veugelers & Fitzgerald, 2005). Moreover, with a poor socioeconomic state, parents with low SES may have to work extra hours to bridge their income gap, therefore, lacking the motivation to encourage or participate in physical exercises. Such environmental stressors may also be predisposing factors to obesity and possible insulin resistance among poverty-affected children. Interestingly, there is strong evidence linking obesity with insulin resistance. If obesity is combined with a relative insulin deficiency, it can lead to the development of an overt T2DM (Hannon, Rao, & Arslanian, 2005). With poverty, obese children and adolescents with T2DM are more likely to experience the microvascular and macrovascular complications of type II