The Association of Ethnic Pre-Disposition and Type 2 Diabetes in the Black and Minority Ethnic Population in the United Kingdom. An Extended Research Proposal

Abstract

It has been noted that people belonging to certain ethnic minority groups and live in the western countries have higher chances of diagnosed with diabetes type 2 (T2D) than Caucasian population. According to studies people belongs to Asian, Chinese, Caribbean or African [also called Black and Minority Ethnic or BME] fall in this category. This exercise is looking to explore the phenomenon mentioned above and review current studies on this subject. A thorough literature search was conducted in the database that includes MedLine, Science Direct, CINAHL, PubMed and Digital library resources of Queen Margaret University. The section 3 explains how the search was conducted and the criteria used for the selection. Section 6 summarise the outcomes of various studies and also explored the strength and weakness of each study (critical assessment). The main findings of the studies are people of BME origin have high chance of diabetes T2D due to their genetic makeup. Along with high calorie diet, sedentary life style, and not following advice of diabetic professionals put them at even more risk for this condition. The critical assessment session closely examines the association of ethnic origin with the two common risk factors of T2D namely lack of exercise and obesity. This literature search and review revealed that there is a lack of major studies within the BME population, where studies conducted did not represent sufficient number of people from these high risk populations. The review concluded that there is a need for more studies with minority ethnic population. It proposes a further study to explore the higher occurrence of type 2 diabetes among BME populations. Part II of this assignment is the proposal for an extended research with a definite research question. The research question is emerged from the literature review as it reflects the current knowledge about T2D and ethnic populations in the UK. The 'methodology' session in part II explains the ways and means for data collection and analysis. The duration for the study is one year and it is expected to meet all ethical obligation of an epidemiological research.