Everyone with diabetes is at risk
of developing diabetic retinopathy,
the CNIB website states, but there
are certain factors that increase this
risk. Some of the risk factors cannot
be controlled, including ethnicity.
“The risk of diabetic retinopathy
is higher in people of Aboriginal,
Latin American, Asian, South Asian
and African origins,” Gordon said.
The
Canadian
Diabetes
Association
Clinical
Practice
Guidelines confirms: “Aboriginal
peoples living in Canada are among
14
the highest risk populations for
diabetes and related complications.”
Their research states that
Aboriginal Canadians are three to five
times more likely than the general
population to develop type 2 diabetes
and are, therefore, at a much higher
risk of developing vision problems
related to diabetes.
Supporting that statement, the
Public Health Agency of Canada’s
report, Diabetes in Canada: Facts
and Figures From A Public Health
Perspective, researched diabetes
OPTICAL PRISM | DIGITAL SUPPLEMENT | FEBRUARY 2014
amongst First Nations, Inuit and
Metis populations.
Recognizing that the prevalence
of diabetes varies between these
cultural groups, according to its
unique characteristics, the report
states
that
the
socio-cultural,
biological, environmental and lifestyle
changes seen in the First Nations,
Inuit and Métis populations in the
last half century have contributed
significantly to increased rates of
diabetes and its complicat [ۜ˂