Diabetes in African Americans

the excess frequency and complications from diabetes in minority populations in the United States. In 1986, a Task Force on Black and Minority Health called attention to limitations in knowledge about diabetes in minorities and the need for increased research and intervention to reduce the excess burden of diabetes in these groups. In this chapter, data on the frequency of diabetes and associated risk factors in the black population of the United States are reviewed and implications for this ethnic group are discussed. The African-American population includes many individuals who have immigrated to the United States from other parts of the Americas, particularly the Caribbean, for whom little is known of their diabetes status. Thus, whenever possible, data on diabetes in black Caribbean populations are provided.