Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 3, 1 Malaki 2016 — Hwaiians and Asians face higher diabetes risk [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hwaiians and Asians face higher diabetes risk

ByTreenaShapiro Diabetes affects nearly 130,000 people in Hawai'i and as many as 46,000 of them have yet to be diagnosed, according to Leslie Lam, executive director of the American Diabetes Association Hawai'i. The statistics are even more startling for Native Hawaiians, who are 2.2 times more likely than other people to be diag-

nosed with the disease, as well as Asians, who often are diagnosed at lower body mass indexes. On a positive note, more awareness

about diabetes has led to more early diagnoses, as well as a prediabetes diagnosis that gives people time to get control of their symptoms before they become diabetic. "Prediabetes really is a significant diagnosis," Lam said. "You're at a plaee where you ean actually slow down that process." Lifestyle changes like eating healthier, incorporating exercise and quitting smoking ean help diabetics and prediabetics lower their blood glucose numbers, sometimes without medication. But getting checked is key, since other risk factors include age, family history and blood pressure. In conjunction with Honolulu's Step Out:

Walk to Stop Diabetes fundraiser on March 19, the American Diabetes Association wants all people to take a look at their overall heahh and get as mueh information as they ean to determine if they're at risk for diabetes. "It's an epidemic," Lam said, noting that it affects 1 1 .5 percent of the state's populahon. Undiagnosed, "That's a great heahh risk," she added. After treating patients for nearly 20 years, Dr. Dee-Ann Carpenter has noticed that most diabetics are getting diagnosed earlier than they did when she first started. Back then, she would often see patients who may have lived with diabetes for a decade before getting diagnosed.

"I think people are a little more aware of getting their bloodpressure checked, to do a blood test at least onee a year, a fasting blood sugar test. I'm catching it at the earliest stage," she said. | Left unchecked, diabetes ean eontribute to heart attacks and strokes. It's already the leading cause of blindness, amputations and liver failure in Hawai'i. Many people will be diagnosed I after seeing a doctor about blurry

vision, frequent urination, persistent thirst or unexplained weight loss, but not everyone at risk takes the symptoms seriously enough to get checked.

And some don't want to be diagnosed because they don't feel ready to make the necessary changes. But Carpenter recommends getting checked, then doing what you ean do to make changes - picking fruit over chocolate; exercising during commercials or from your chair; packing Ziploc snack bags with zucchini, carrots, celery or cherry tomatoes for easy snacks; or walking around the field while your child is at sports practice. See the American Diabetes Association risk test on page 23 for more information and visit stepout.diabetes.org to sign up for the 2016 Step Out Walk. ■

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AhLun Yung, Dr. Dee-Ann Carpenter, Bonnie Tanner Kahape'a, and Gaylan Macanas, (crew from Hōkūle'a and Hikianalia, doing education in Pago Pago, American Samoa, August 201 4). - Photo: Courtesy Dr. Dee-Ann Carpenter