The aim of the paper is to provide background information on the topic of diabetes risk reduction among Hispanic males and how effective dietary interventions can be used as an evidence-based practice. Similarly, the library search for relevant articles is presented in the paper. In providing a solution, a potential innovative solution is highlighted at the end of the paper to address diabetes risk reduction among the population of elderly Hispanic males.
Role Specialization
My role specification is that of a family nurse. As a family nurse, the responsibility of caring for the elderly in the community falls squarely on me. Thus, it is essential for a family nurse to acquire knowledge and skills to care for the diabetic elderly in the community. Healthcare workers, therefore, play a crucial role in educating the elderly on the ways that they can use to reduce the risk factors of diabetes, thus improving the quality of their lives. With active participation in community-based projects, family nurses can provide various programs to reduce the risk factors of either developing diabetes or its progression.
Problem Statement and Significance of the Problem
Diabetes affects one-quarter of all Americans under the age of 65, and population aging is exacerbating the diabetes epidemic (Michalak et al., 2021). Even though the burden of diabetes is typically characterized in terms of its impact on people in their working years, diabetes in older people is associated with a higher risk of death, lower functional status, and institutionalization. People with diabetes over the age of 65 are more prone to have acute and chronic microvascular and cardiovascular problems. Putting this into context, statistics indicate that Americans of Hispanic and Latino descent have a 50% chance of developing type 2 diabetes at a younger age.
Although older people and those with comorbidities have the highest prevalence of diabetes, they are frequently excluded from randomized controlled studies. It is challenging to establish universally applicable conventional therapy approaches for older people due to their diverse health situations (even within a single age group) and a lack of clinical trial evidence.
Only a few randomized controlled trials of type 2 diabetes have looked at the effect of glucose reduction on microvascular issues, cardiovascular complications, and death (Mannucci et al., 2021). These trials were useful, but they were not designed to evaluate the health repercussions of glucose management in children or the elderly with chronic conditions. There is no direct clinical trial evidence on glucose management for the vast majority of diabetics beyond the age of 65. For this reason, I believe nursing professionals must explore other evidence-based practices like dietary interventions to effectively manage type 2 diabetes among high-risk groups, like Latinos and Hispanic elderly males.
Library Research
A library search is essential to completing a research study (Bramer et al., 2018). It helps identify the relevant research materials to obtain the required data and must come from a credible academic database. The peer-reviewed journal articles chosen for the study provide proven information regarding the research topic and can be relied on to obtain the required data. We drew resources from the South University Online Library database using a library search engine. The search parameters included phrases relating to type 2 diabetes, renal failure, risk reduction for diabetes, its management, and treatment. The search titles also included Hispanic males and Latinos as the target group so that the literature is relevant to this ethnic group. To gather reliable papers, it will be necessary to apply current research studies. As a result, the research materials to be reviewed must have been published within the last five years. This ensures that the most recent data is used in the study, avoiding the possibility of using redundant data from out-of-date sources.
Literature Summary
Type 2 diabetes affects over 415 million people worldwide and is expected to overtake heart disease as the sixth leading cause of death by 2030 (Zheng et al., 2018). Type 2 diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in Latin American countries, where its prevalence is double that of non-Hispanic whites in the United States. However, specific genetic influences also play a role in the problem. The region’s distinct environmental and lifestyle risk factors contribute to the region’s higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Using genome-wide association studies, researchers discovered over a hundred genetic markers for type 2 diabetes. Previously, the vast majority of genome-wide association studies were conducted on people of European ancestry. In the largest trans-ancestry genome-wide association studies meta-analysis published to date, less than 40% of the samples have non-European ancestry, and only 2% have Hispanic ancestry (Ge et al., 2022).
The significance of carrying out genetic research on a wide range of population types cannot be overstated. The discovery of a community-specific polymorphism linked to type 2 diabetes can aid in identifying those in that population who are most vulnerable to the disease. These people could then be targeted for lifestyle changes or medical interventions. The discovery of causative genes in these cultures may help us better understand type 2 diabetes or point to a potential therapeutic target that may be effective even in populations lacking the genetic variation that led to the discovery. This is due to the fact that the genetic variation that led to the discovery also triggered the identification of the genes responsible for the condition.
Innovative Solution
The innovation to be tested is the use of dietary intervention through meal-planning as evidence-based practice in the management of type 2 diabetes. Meal planning involves determining the adequate proportion of starch, proteins, and vitamins. Through this dietary intervention, education is given to the patients on the need to incorporate fruits and vegetables on their meals as advised by a registered dietician. This dietary intervention is seen as a good approach in evidence-based practice for the management of type 2 diabetes among the Hispanic males to yield satisfactory results.
References
Bramer, W. M., De Jonge, G. B., Rethlefsen, M. L., Mast, F., & Kleijnen, J. (2018). A systematic approach to searching: An efficient and complete method to develop literature searches. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 106(4), 531. DOI: 10.5195/jmla.2018.283
Ge, T., Irvin, M. R., Patki, A., Srinivasasainagendra, V., Lin, Y. F., Tiwari, H. K., … & Karlson, E. W. (2022). Development and validation of a trans-ancestry polygenic risk score for type 2 diabetes in diverse populations. Genome Medicine, 14(1), 1-16. DOI: 10.1186/s13073-022-01074-2
Michalak, S. S., Wolny-Rokicka, E., Nowakowska, E., Michalak, M., & Gil, L. (2021). Clinical Implications of the Coexistence of Anemia and Diabetes Mellitus in the Elderly Population. Journal of Diabetes Research, 2021. DOI: 10.1155/2021/8745968
Mannucci, E., Nreu, B., Montereggi, C., Ragghianti, B., Gallo, M., Giaccari, A., … & Turchetti, G. (2021). Cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors: An extensive meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, 31(10), 2745-2755. DOI: 10.1016/j.numecd.2021.06.002
Zheng, Y., Ley, S. H., & Hu, F. B. (2018). Global aetiology and epidemiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 14(2), 88-98. DOI: 10.1038/nrendo.2017.151
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