Diabetes Health

Jump to another page... Introduction Diabetes prevalence Leisure time physical activity Obesity High-fat diet Fruits and vegetables—Fruit consumption Vegetable consumption Use of food labels High Blood Pressure and Hypertension Routine annual checkups Direct care physician to population ratio (1) Hospitalization rate for diabetes mellitus with complications (1) Age-adjusted mortality for diabetes mellitus (2) Years of potential life lost (2)

Routine annual checkups

People with diabetes should have routine annual medical checkups. In 2005, 63 percent of adults in Texas and Harris County indicated they had seen a physician in the past year. Sixty-six percent of Bexar County adults reported having a medical checkup in the past year. This is a decrease from 80 percent of Bexar County adults who reported checkups in 2002. In south Bexar, the number of adults reporting routine checkup dropped from 80 percent in 2002 to 63 percent in 2005. In the northern sectors of Bexar County the rate dropped from 80 percent in 2002 to 67 percent in 2005. It is possible that there is not a significant difference between the north and south sectors (sampling error is ± 4 percent), however the 13 to 17 drop in routine care is statistically significant.

Direct care physician to population ratio

One component of a healthy lifestyle is regular physical exams by a physician. Routine care can detect early signs of diabetes. Controlling diabetes risk factors reduces the chances of developing more serious disease later in life. Routine care is especially important for diabetes. Clinical practice guidelines recommend periodic testing and screening for diabetics. Access to physician services is required for residents to utilize these services. In the year 2004, there were 2,748 direct care physicians in Bexar County and the ratio of direct care physician to the population per 100,000 is 184. The trend data shows that this rate is constant over the last 12 years for the state and for the Harris and Bexar Counties. The distribution of physicians within Bexar County is skewed to the sectors in the north of the county, 72 percent of physicians in Bexar County practice in the north, one half of these are located near the South Texas Medical Center in the East Northwest area. An additional 16 percent have offices in the central (downtown) area. The remaining 12 percent of physicians practice in the southern part of the county. Health insurance coverage helps provide access to health care services. An estimated 24.6 percent of the Texas population, or 5.4 million persons, were uninsured in 2004. In San Antonio, it is estimated that 24.3 percent or 363,033 residents of the County are uninsured⁷⁹.

Hospitalization rate for diabetes mellitus with complications

If a diabetic receives adequate primary care they should never be hospitalized. Hispanics are more disposed to diabetes than the Non-Hispanic White population. Because Bexar County is 57 percent Hispanic, there is a need for special concern about diabetes. There were 2,308 hospitalizations for diabetes in Bexar County in 2004 for a rate of 15 per 10,000 population. This is slightly lower than the state rate of 16 per 10,000. Three sectors within Bexar County have higher rates of hospitalization due to complications of diabetes than the state. These sectors are the South, West and East with 23, 18, and 18 hospitalizations per 100,000, respectively. These rates are more than double the sectors with the lowest rates, including the Northeast, North Central and Northwest. It is likely that social determinants of health play a role in the differences. Though the southern sectors are more heavily Hispanic, levels of income and education are considerably lower in these sectors than in the north.