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News — Bronx groups, led by Health People, will protest New York City’s stunning lack of diabetes prevention at Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Bronx appearance on Tuesday,  May 23^rd at 9 am at the Bronx County Courthouse Building at 161 Street and Grand Concourse.

The Bronx has the city’s highest rate of diabetes—15% of all adults--- as well as the city’s highest rate of crippling complications such as lower- limb amputation and kidney failure.  Moreover, with diabetes raising the risk of Alzheimer’s by at least 40%, the Bronx’s diabetes epidemic is fueling an Alzheimer’s epidemic which has already seen 19.1% of Bronxites age 65 and older develop dementia.

“While the Mayor is opening a resource fair Tuesday morning, “said Chris Norwood, Executive Director of Health People, “the resource the Bronx really needs is diabetes prevention. The city has completely failed its public health responsibility to enable the Bronx to put the best diabetes prevention education in the communities that need it most.”

Health People will release a special report: The Horrible Impact of Diabetes in the Bronx

Special Report: The Horrible Impact of Diabetes in the Bronx

The Bronx already has 162,864 residents with diabetes. Without prevention, it will have a projected 55,520 more cases in the next five years.  To fully understand the extent to which the Bronx has been abandoned by the New York City and New York State Departments of Health---neither of which has a comprehensive diabetes prevention plan or even bothers to fund the best proven and most effective diabetes prevention education---it is crucial to look at the pain, havoc, expense and communal despair diabetes already costs the Bronx.

The following is a focused look at Bronx caseloads for diabetes and its horrific complications:

In the Bronx, 15% of adults over age 18 already have diabetes---the highest rate of any county in New York City or State.

As a consequence of this high rate---and the fact that, just as preventive education is unavailable for those at risk, good self-care education is almost unavailable for those already diagnosed with diabetes---complications from diabetes are disabling thousands and thousands of Bronx residents leaving families and communities in utter despair.

Lower Limb Amputations

One of the worst complications is lower-limb amputations, which routinely leave people severely disabled.   The Bronx rate of lower-limb amputations is staggering ---not only higher than every other borough but almost double the New York City average.

Hospitalizations with diabetes as principal diagnosis among adults

Hospitalizations for lower-extremity amputation among adults with diabetes

End Stage Renal (Kidney) Disease

Since people with diabetes have a tenfold higher risk for kidney failure than the general population, the Bronx’s diabetes epidemic has seen thousands of residents develop kidney failure which chains them to dialysis---and early death.  The 5 year survival rate for those on dialysis is only 35%.  Diabetes is the cause of 42% of kidney failure ---presenting an enormous opportunity for both the state and city health departments to support the self-care education proven to help people with diabetes avoid such complications; but neither health department does so.

Alzheimer’s: Having diabetes increases the risk for developing Alzheimer’s by 40 to 70%!

Since unprevented diabetes also means unnecessary Alzheimer’s, tragically, but not surprisingly, with its high diabetes rate, the Bronx has the city’s highest Alzheimer’s rate:

Alzheimer’s Cases Age to 65 and Older

The Grim Future

With both the New York State and New York City Health Departments having abandoned any comprehensive, evidence-based effort to fight diabetes, the future looks grim.  The city itself estimates that the city has 1.3 million pre-diabetics—people with elevated blood sugar and known to be at high risk for diabetes, yet for whom prevention is still generally effective.  For example, the best evaluated prevention course—known as the National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP)—reduces the risks that pre-diabetics will develop diabetes by almost 60%.  Although this is an extraordinary outcome—and the DPP is endorsed by the CDC, the AMA, and the ADA and multiple medical societies—neither the New York State nor City Department of Health pay for it.

Without prevention, the Bronx, which has 221,000 of the city’s pre-diabetics, will see a projected new 55,250 diabetes cases in the next five years.  All these cases, of course, will be at the highest risk in the city for developing complications such as amputation, renal failure and Alzheimer’s.

What Can Be Done

For the past 20 years, the diabetes epidemic has worsened and worsened throughout the state and city, without any ordinary public health interventions or sense of urgency.

Although the epidemic has overtaken county after county both upstate and in the city, the situation in the Bronx is not only the worst---but presents a situation that is unprecedented in contemporary public health in New York.  Diabetes is well proven to have the worst impact in low-income communities and the highest rates among minority populations.  Both the New York City and State Health Departments regularly claim to care about “health disparities,” yet, the worst, most lethal and most costly disparity in New York clearly does not interest them.

While fighting diabetes involves many complex challenges, as long as New York State and New York City refuse to provide the evidence-based preventive and self-care education---which could directly help so many avoid diabetes in the first place---or, at least avoid horrible complications if they do develop diabetes-- their health departments are failing the most basic responsibilities of public health.

What You Can Do

Please tell your city council members and state legislators to support the well proven diabetes prevention and self-care education that should be available---and especially to help community groups in high need communities bring this education right to those who need it most.

Send the same message to the NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett by emailing [email protected] and to the NY State Health Commissioner by emailing [email protected]

For more information, contact: [email protected] or 718-585-8585