Dear Editor of the Toronto Star:

The Toronto Star story on the increasing prevalence of diabetes among Ontarians
is indeed a wake-up call (Number of diabetics rises 31%, report says, August
15).  However one significant piece of the puzzle was not mentioned by your
reporter.  In the report it is noted that the prevalence rate of diabetes is
almost 400% greater among low income women as that seen among high income women.
Similarly, the rate for low income males is 40% higher, and among lower middle
income men 50% higher than well-off men , still significant figures.  Diabetes
therefore appears --like heart disease -- to be an affliction of the poor and
insecure.  Will governments -- and instititions like the Diabetes and Heart and
Stroke Foundation -- raise the issue of  the increasing incidence of poverty in
addtion to the usual exhorations about changing lifestyles as means of
preventing these diseases?


Dennis Raphael, PhD
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director
School of Health Policy and Management
Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
tel: 416-736-2100, ext. 22134
fax: 416-736-5227
email: [log in to unmask]

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