According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, diabetes mellitus is the 6th leading cause of death among all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States, and the 4th leading cause of death among Hispanic women and Hispanic elderly. Right now, Hispanics are at a higher risk of developing and dying from diabetes, and twice as likely as other populations to experience life-threatening complications. Diabetes also has an earlier onset in persons from 30 to 50 years old in this population - almost twice the rate for non-Hispanic Whites in the same age group. It is therefore clear that health care professionals must help educate their Latino patients so they can learn to manage their disease.

In this program the terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” are used interchangeably.

According to the 2000 census, persons identified as Hispanic or Latino include all persons who identified themselves as Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano, Puerto Rican and Cuban. It also includes persons who identify themselves as “other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino” whose origins are from Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of Central or South America, the Dominican Republic and Brazil.

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