Ask an Advisor Answers

Question: Hi: I am trying to put together a local study of Diabetes in the Hispanic population of Central New York, and I cannot find any reference to statistics and facts, of "Latinos" with Diabetes in "Onondaga County". Although I am specifically searching for "incidents of diabetes in Onondaga county broken down by ethnicity", I could use any other type of information that links Diabetes with the Hispanic culture. Please, let me know if your department has this information, or if you can advice me where to inquire, or obtain it. Muchas Gracias; Hugo
Answer: I suspect that there will be little data for Hispanics in Onondaga County. Data is just not collected at that level unless there is a local diabetes prevention initiative that has taken this task on hand. You might call the local health department to see if they know if any data such as this is available. You might also contact the local hospitals or health plans that provide service in your area. The best you might be able to find is for the state or region. Does New York conduct a Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. If so, it may contain some of the information you seek. Call your State Health Department to find out if they collect this type of information or if they oversample in specific counties such as Onondaga County. In addition, there are national surveys such as the NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm) and they conducted one specifically for Hispanics. But again, it would not include information at the level of one county, even though they surveyed 16,000 Hispanics across the country. You might also look to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to see if they have any information specific to Hispanics. All of this information can be searched for on the Internet. Lastly, you can look to sections in the Community Tool Box to provide information on how to conduct surveys or find this type of information. See /tools/en/chapter_1003.htm or /tools/en/section_1371.htm for several sections related to this topic. This is important information to have available. Good luck.
Question Date: Tue, 09/04/2007