Diabetes in the UK
Synopsis:
Diabetes has recently become a focal point of health care systems around the world due to its high prevalence and the severity of secondary complications caused by the disease. Over the course of my project on diabetes, I have had the opportunity to speak with a group of diabetics to understand from a patient’s perspective how diabetes is managed in a rural community. While I found that while some patients ignored treatment and refused to make any dietary changes, the majority of the patients I interviewed were well-informed and actively managing diabetes in their everyday life.
Background on Diabetes:
Throughout the whole of the United Kingdom, between 2 and 3 of every 100 people have a
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Accompanying genetics, environmental factors, such as lack of exercise and obesity, play major roles in causing type II diabetes.
Why do we treat diabetes? There are a number of downstream events associated with abnormal blood glucose levels. If glucose levels are managed properly, the complications associated diabetes can be controlled, and sometimes completely prevented. The main problem with having more than the normal amount of glucose circulating in the blood stream is the effect that excess glucose can have on both large and small blood vessels (DTC, 2004). Micro-vascular and macro-vascular problems associated with diabetes can be seen in the heart, eyes, kidney, legs and feet. Diabetic patients are twice as likely to suffer from a mycocardial infaraction, twenty-five times more likely to suffer blindness, and seventeen times more likely to suffer kidney failure compared to a non-diabetic (DTC, 2004). Because of great number of risks associated with abnormal blood glucose levels, diabetes is aggressively treated to improve the quality of life and prevent complications in patients.
Diabetes can be treated in three basic ways: by diet, by diet in conjunction with tablets, or diet in conjunction with insulin. Diet serves as an initial control for non-urgent patients. If a person’s diet will have a major effect on glycaemic control, it does so reasonably quickly, within a few weeks of changing
There are several factors, however, that can increase a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Primary concern and cause of type 2 diabetes is obesity or overweight, people over the normal weight baseline of the BMI spectrum. America has always been known as the country that is two/thirds obese and many of American habits contribute to the following daily bad decisions that seem related to type 2 diabetes. Poor eating habits are the number one cause of obesity and type 2 diabetes, choosing to eat bad food and lots of soda can have tremendous effects on your weight and glucose intake. Watching too much television (T.V.) is another related issue towards diabetes, most likely eating snacks while watching your favorite show or movies. Physical inactivity causes the body to have a high blood glucose causing diabetes; muscles use the glucose through physical activity by helping the hormone insulin absorb glucose into all your body cells. Your muscles use glucose better than it uses fat. Sleeping habits such as sleeping less than 5 hours or more than 9 hours a night can affect the body’s balance of insulin and increase the demand on the pancreas to make it. Lastly, genetics has played a big role in determining if a person is at risk for type 2 diabetes. Your risk is higher if your brother, sister, or parent have type 2 diabetes. Genetics is a factor that is out of our control and it is
There are proposals to enlighten people with diabetes and healthcare providers realize the benefits of nutritional intervention. The strategies to attain such goals, and changes individuals with diabetes. Achieving nutrition-related goals requires a team effort that is in sync with people who have diabetes and also involve them in the decision making process. By engaging with team members who play a key role in providing care for a healthy diet. Usually for people who have diabetes their therapeutic nutrien is determined or have been recommended by doctors to helps improving their health. This practice can be done with several different approaches for creating a diabetic diet that able to maintain the level of glucose in the blood within normal
Matthews, David. Diabetes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
Diabetes is a disease where the body is unable to produce or use insulin effectively. Insulin is needed for proper storage and use of carbohydrates. Without it, blood sugar levels can become too high or too low, resulting in a diabetic emergency. It affects about 7.8% of the population. The incidence of diabetes is known to increase with age. It’s the leading cause of end-stage renal disease in the US, and is the primary cause of blindness and foot and leg amputation. It is known to cause neuropathy in up to 70% of diabetic patients. Individuals with diabetes are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease. There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2.
Background Audience Relevance: Diabetes is a disease that now in days is becoming more common to society because of the lifestyle in which many of us eat and how easy and cheap it is to obtain unhealthy fast food.
Public health emphasizes the importance of prevention and proactively taking care of one’s body. As people grow older, they must follow certain guidelines to ensure that they age healthily and successfully. One of the biggest concerns facing the aging population is chronic diseases. Chronic diseases are long term diseases that have a slow progression. Once chronic diseases pass “certain symptomatic or diagnostic thresholds,” they become a permanent aspect of an individual’s life because “medical and personal regimens can sometimes control but can rarely cure them” (Albert and Freeman 105). One chronic condition that is a cause of concern is diabetes. Diabetes is not only one of the leading causes of death in the over 65 population but
According to (Diabetes UK 2008) Type 2 diabetes can remain undetected for ten years or more and 50 per cent of people show signs of complications when diagnosed. It is therefore the responsibility of the individuals and the government to prevent the disease from developing. A lot of people do not realise that their weight and lifestyle could put them at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, ‘Physical inactivity and obesity are strongly associated with the development of type 2 diabetes (National Diabetes Information Clearing House 2013) . People who are genetically
Uncontrolled diabetes can affect nearly every organ of the body; of which, heart disease and kidney failure are most commonly impacted. Known as diabetes mellitus, a collective term for various blood abnormalities, the term diabetes refers to either a scarcity of insulin in the body or the body’s inability to accept insulin. Though the symptoms of diabetes are manageable, many are unaware as to having it. According to the CDC report “2011 Diabetes Fact Sheet,” approximately 6 million people in the United States have undiagnosed diabetes. Undetected, diabetes can become deadly. In a recent World Health Organization report “Diabetes Action Now: An Initiative of the World Health Organization and the International Diabetes Federation,” it
2. “Among adults with diagnosed diabetes (type 1 or type 2), 12% take insulin only, 14% take both insulin and oral medication, 58% take oral
Diabetes is a chronic illness that requires continuous medical care and patient self-management education to prevent acute complications and to reduce the risk of long-term complications[ ].
There are two types of diabetes but this essay will focus more on Type 2 diabetes. Currently, the number of people with diabetes in Australia is going higher and went up to 1 million this year and doubled compared with the statistics in 1989. Approximately, 80 % of them are Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (Diabetes Australia, 2015). Furthermore, according to the survey there are about 1.8% of all Australians have an Intellectual Disability (328,000) and about 9% of them are suffering with diabetes. However, the true prevalence of diabetes in Australia’s population is still unidentified and unknown (Carolan, Holman, Ferrai,
Nearly 16 million people in the United States have diabetes, the disease classified as a problem with insulin. The problem could be that your body does not make insulin, does not make enough, or it simply does not know how to use it properly. Diabetes is also known as "diabetes mellitus".
Diabetes is one of the biggest challenges facing Australians. One person is diagnosed every five minutes equating to 280 Australians diagnosed every day. In total 1.7 million Australian’s suffer from all types of diabetes. Diabetes is one of the most fastest growing condition is Australia. It’s increasing at a faster rate than heart diseases and cancer. 10% of people with diabetes are type 1, the other 85% of diabetes are type 2 and the rest have gestational diabetes in pregnancy. Diabetes is caused when the body can’t maintain glucose in the blood. People that suffer from diabetes must watch their sugar intake to ensure a healthy lifestyle.
Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder that "occurs when the body is unable to produce or respond to insulin, a hormone that allows blood glucose to enter the cells of the body and generate the body's energy" (Ebony, 115). Diabetes is a disease that affects approximately 3% of the world' population. In American alone, 10.3 million people report having diabetes, while an estimated 10 million more individuals may have undiagnosed diabetes (Morwessel, 540). The gene for diabetes is located in the HLA region on chromosome 6, and the most probable organization of the responsible gene is on a 19-kb region of INS-IGF2, which affects HLA-DR4 IDDM susceptibility. Diabetes Mellitus, was first diagnosed in the year 1000 BC, by the
Diabetes is a systemic disease caused by a decrease in the secretion of insulin or reduced sensitivity or responsiveness to insulin by target tissue. (Beale, et al., 2011) The incidence of diabetes is growing rapidly in the United States and worldwide. An estimated 347 million people around the world are afflicted with diabetes. (Whalen, et al., 2012) According to World Health Organization (WHO), Diabetes prevalence among adults over 18 years of age has risen from 4.7% in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014. It is the major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and limbic amputation. World Health Organization (WHO) projects that diabetes will be the 7th leading cause of death in 2030. It is a complex and costly disease that can affect nearly every organ in the body and result in devastating consequences. The leading cause of non-traumatic lower extremity amputations, renal failure, and blindness in working-age adults, diabetes is also a major cause of premature mortality, stroke, cardiovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, congenital malformations, perinatal mortality, and disability. (Cefalu, 2000) Insulin therapy and oral hypoglycemic agents have demonstrated improvement in glycaemic control. However, Insulin therapy has some disadvantages such as ineffectiveness following oral administration, short shelf life, of the need for constant refrigeration, and fatal hypoglycaemia, in the event of excess dosage.