Examine the factors associated with having type 2 diabetes. Explore Korean participants’ impact, feasibility, and behavior towards diabetes management and prevention.
Purpose: This study aims to examine the factors associated with having type 2 diabetes in a sample of non-obese, immigrant Korean Americans.
Moreover, we explore potential factors affecting the self-management behaviors of Korean immigrant Americans.
Type 2 diabetes is an impairment in the way the body regulates and uses sugar (glucose) as a fuel. This long-term (chronic) condition results in too much sugar circulating in the bloodstream. Eventually, high blood sugar levels can lead to disorders of the circulatory, nervous and immune systems.
In type 2 diabetes, there are primarily two interrelated problems at work. Your pancreas does not produce enough insulin — a hormone that regulates the movement of sugar into your cells — and cells respond poorly to insulin and take in less sugar.
Type 2 diabetes used to be known as adult-onset diabetes, but both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can begin during childhood and adulthood. Type 2 is more common in older adults, but the increase in the number of children with obesity has led to more cases of type 2 diabetes in younger people.
There’s no cure for type 2 diabetes, but losing weight, eating well, and exercising can help you manage the disease. If diet and exercise aren’t enough to manage your blood sugar, you may also need diabetes medications or insulin therapy.
Signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes often develop slowly. In fact, you can be living with type 2 diabetes for years and not know it. When signs and symptoms are present, they may include:
Type 2 diabetes is primarily the result of two interrelated problems:
Exactly why this happens is unknown, but being overweight and inactive are key contributing factors.
Insulin is a hormone that comes from the gland situated behind and below the stomach (pancreas). Insulin regulates how the body uses sugar in the following ways: