Racial Differences in End Stage Renal Disease Related to Type 2 Diabetes

Racial Differences in End Stage Renal Disease Related to Type 2 Diabetes

Introduction

In the United States as well as other developed countries, Diabetic nephropathy can be counted as one of the leading causes for End Stage Renal Disease or commonly referred to as ESRD. ESRD can be defined as kidney failure which requires transplantation or dialysis which is often followed by glomerulonephritis and hypertension. Up till 2004, these were the three primary conditions which could be accounted for almost eighty percent of all new cases of ESRD which were treated (USRDS, 2006).

Most of the End Stage Renal Disease cases can thus be attributed to type 2 diabetes which itself is a preventable condition or disease. Diabetes is also a leading cause for ESRD in many developing countries; however, there is a distinct variation in the distribution of baseline nephropathy in the reported cases of ESRD in such nations. The purpose of this paper is therefore to identify three main aspects related to this disease - the incidence of End Stage Renal Disease which is caused by diabetes type 2 in racial or ethnic minorities/groups and to provide plausible explanations for the difference in ESRD-DM found in these groups (Heisler, 2003). Lastly, after an analysis of the trends, some basic recommendations or possible interventions to reduce any identified gap in the incidence of ESRD-DM in racial minorities, will be detailed out.

In developed nations like the United States, the incidence of this disease is found to be significantly higher amongst certain groups. These groups include the Native Americans as well as the Blacks. In other nations like Australia and England, the indigenous population and Blacks along with Indo-Asians fall victim to this disease more in comparison, respectively (Stephens, 1990).

Discussion

Over time, there has been a global increase in the incidence of diabetes, even in nations like South Africa as well as Brazil where ESRD has led to glomerulonephritis as well as hypertension which is counted to be even higher then the incidence of ESRD caused by diabetes. Moreover, the prevalence of malignant and/or malignant hypertension along with infectious glomerulonephritis in addition to diabetes can be a good indicator of the occurrence of ESRD which is brought on by glomerulonephritis and hypertensive nephropathy in the above mentioned regions. These statistics lead to a conclusion that more effective strategies need to be developed in order to combat diabetes type 2 which would lead to a reduction in the racial gap in End Stage Renal Disease caused by diabetes mellitus. This has to be done along with stress on controlling diabetes and hypertension found in racially different populations as well as the economically disadvantaged groups (Heisler, 2003).

Statistics from the United States Renal Data System

A detailed analysis of previous data gathered from the United States Renal Data System leads to an indication that in the ten years from 1994 to 2004, the incidence of End Stage Renal Disease attributed to a decrease ...