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Effects Of Diabetes On The United States

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The American Diabetes Association (2004) defines diabetes as a subset of metabolic diseases associated with hyperglycemia secondary to insulin failing to release, act, or both. Complications related to chronic diabetes can be detrimental to one’s health including but not limited to: heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, amputations, blindness, and other optical diseases. Furthermore, the prevalence of diabetes is rising at an astronomical rate within the United States as well as internationally. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2016) an estimated 29 million people suffer with diabetes and 86 million are prediabetic within the United States (US). Without major interventions from the healthcare community, …show more content…

Only 3.97% of the Lithuanian population has been diagnosed with diabetes (Ryan, 2015). Lithuania focuses on disease prevention and ample resources for patients diagnosed with diabetes. The national focus is prevention in high risk populations through a program called The Lithuanian High Cardiovascular Risk. This program focuses on education and early detection (Visockiene, 2013). The second focus is for disease management. Through Lithuania’s National Health Insurance fund, new regulations were put in place for reimbursement for treatment and medication for patients and further education for medical professionals (Visockiene, 2013).
National Impact
The rate of diabetes in the United States is one of the highest compared to other developed countries. An estimate of 9.3% of the population have diabetes, of those with diabetes 27.8% have yet to be diagnosed (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014). This means that approximately 8.1 million people are currently living with diabetes, but are unaware of it. As of 2012, 12.3% of people with diabetes were 20 years old or older, the largest population diagnosed with diabetes were adults 65 years old or older. 25.9% of this population lives with diabetes (CDC, 2014). On a national level, the CDC have launched initiatives that focus on prevention and disease management. The National Diabetes Prevention Program is an example of one such initiative. This program focuses on lifestyle changes,

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