Chronic Disease : Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes refers to a set of several different diseases. It is a serious health problem throughout the world and fourth leading cause of death by disease in the country. All types of diabetes result in too much sugar, or glucos in the blood. To understand why this happens it would helpful if we understand how the body usually works. When we eat, our body breaks down the food into simpler forms such as glucose. The glucose goes into the bloodstream, where it then travels to all the cells in your body. The cells use the glucose for energy. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, helps move the glucose from bloodstream to the cells. The pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus further explains the concept on how this disease works. Pancreas

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,

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[ ].

Diabetes (DM) is one the many initiatives that Healthy People 2020 have been focusing on to reduce this disease morbidity and mortality rates throughout the communities. In the United States alone, the number of individuals diagnosed with diabetes has increased from 1.5 million in 1958 to 25.8 million in 2011. The Center for Disease and prevention (CDC) also estimates in the year 2011, 79 million people age 20 and over were noted to have pre-diabetes, in which the blood sugar was higher than normal levels, however, have not reached the level for a diagnosis of DM. Eleven percent of those individuals with pre-diabetic readings of raised blood glucose will progress in full blown diabetes a matter of three years. Healthy People 2020 have used evidence –based practices to aid in the prevention and treatment of diabetes. Evidence have shown by simply modifying one’s lifestyle such regular exercising and healthy eating have been recognized to effectively prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in high-risk persons. Case in point, the Diabetes Prevention Program research trial revealed that the utilization of lifestyle interferences had its utmost impact in elderly adults and was also effective in all racial groups.

I have been naïve to an epidemic that has been plaguing America for quite some time now. It wasn’t talked about or taught much when I was younger. I thought that this disease was for the geriatric population. In 2012, 29.1 million Americans were diagnosed with diabetes. 8.1 million went undiagnosed. (diabetes.org) Diabetes is a dilemma and the statistics for this disease is rising steadily. Per the diabetes association there are 1.4 million of new cases of diabetes a year. Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the united states of America. Diabetes is not affecting only one group of people. Diabetes.org states that 208,000 Americans under the age of 20 have been diagnosed with diabetes. In 2014 I started a new job at a call center. Prior to this occupation I had never personally, that I knew of interacted closely with anyone suffering from this disease. I had never heard of the younger population developing this illness and I certainly never heard any first-hand accounts on how diabetes affected the body. I discovered just how prevalent diabetes were in young adults. I watched people between the ages of 20-27 be afflicted by this disease. They had to constantly watch their diet to ensure that their blood glucose wasn’t either too high or too low. I watched a 20-year-old female be in and out of the hospital because of this disease. I hope to inform this reader of the dangers of this disease and what to do to prevent it.

For the year 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that, 29.1 million people in the united states had diabetes, and of those 21.0 million people were diagnosed and 8.1 million people were undiagnosed (2014). The number of people that have the disease can be used to illustrate the major impact the disease has on society. The disease can affect an individual directly through personal diagnosis. When family member is diagnosed with type II diabetes, it can indirectly affect their close relatives by the increased risk that they may one day be diagnosed with the disease because of genetics. The fact that 8.1 million people were undiagnosed in 2012 should be very concerning for both healthcare providers and society (CDC, 2014). The proper management and compliance is very important with type II diabetes and cannot be initiated until a diagnosis is made. When the disease is uncontrolled other complications can occur. This creates a negative effect on society due to the deficit that exist. Whether the actual impact the disease has on society is positive or negative can be related to whether the disease is properly diagnosed and managed accordingly. Although type II diabetes is a part of society working to try to prevent the disease and timely diagnose the disease is a positive impact diabetes has on society. Increase education about the signs and symptoms of the disease and screenings could aid in the early diagnosis of the disease. Earlier diagnosis can aid in better prognosis of the

Prediabetes is a serious health condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. Despite advances in medical technology, treatments, and diagnoses, uncontrolled diabetes continues to rise in the United States (US) (American Diabetes Association [ADA], 2016). Between 2012-2014, 33.9 % of the US population were diagnosed with prediabetes (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016). According to the ADA (2016) in 2010 18.8 million of the population was diagnosed with diabetes, 7 million were undiagnosed, compared to 2012 where the numbers continued to increase to 29.1 million. Out of the 29.1 million individuals affected with

There are many people in the United States who have diabetes but do not know it. According to the American Diabetes Association, nearly 25.8 million people are living with the disease (American Diabetes Association, 2011), and

As the gap between reaching optimal medication therapy for diabetes management grows, so does the need for improved medical centers. But how does this happen? If pharmacists were to “utilize their clinical expertise in monitoring and managing diabetes medication plans to positively impact health outcomes and empower patients to actively manage their health,” then the number of people with diabetes could decline (Smith, 2009). Pharmacists are highly accessible medical professionals that are not used to their full potential (Smith, 2009). They are an essential component of the American health system that could easily educate patients struggling with diabetes (Shane-McWhorter, 2005). The implementation of pharmacist-managed diabetes clinics

Y. L,fasting glucose level is 10.0 mmol/L above 7.0 mmol/L and her HBA1C of 8.8% is an indication of Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Keeping the level less than 7% could prevent complications. Hertotal cholesterol of 6.3 mmol/L indicated that her cholesterol level is too high and needed to be controlled. Mrs. Y.L. triglycerides ' levels of 5.5 mmol/L which is above the desirable level amount of 1.7 mmol/L. This is an indication of DM, but if caught early she will lower her risk of getting DM. Her LDL isvery high (4.1 mmol/L) which also put her atrisk for stroke and development of DM. Furthermore a low HDL of 1.1 mmol/L could put her at risk for underlining diseases and DM. Finally the UA +glucose ketone 's levels showed that she has glucose in her urine, which is an indication of DM, but she has no indication of ketone in her urine.

In my current role with the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH), I am working on a number of projects aimed at increasing awareness of prediabetes and preventing the onset of diabetes in Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders with prediabetes. An emerging trend in public health is the prevalence of prediabetes. On one hand, a prediabetes diagnosis is an opportune time to implement preventative interventions earlier and hopefully prevent the onset of Type II diabetes and lends itself to the concept of “early detection = better health outcomes”. However, the prevalence of prediabetes is staggering; more than 1 out 3 adults in the U.S. and 14% of Hawaii’s population has prediabetes. Additionally, 30 % of people with prediabetes will develop

Diabetes is associated with wide range of complications such as chronic renal failure, blindness, amputations, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and neuropathy (Alotabi, A., et al., 2016). There is no known cure for diabetes, but the disease can be controlled through health management that includes multiple perspectives of care such as medications, blood glucose monitoring, diet, nutrition, screening for long-term complications and regular physical activity (Alotabi, A., et al., 2016). Managing diabetes may be complicated and requires the knowledge and skills of both healthcare providers and the clients. Studies have shown that to prevent or delay diabetic complications due to diabetes, counseling and other lifestyle interventions are the effective therapy. Even with many policies set up for diabetes, 8.1 million Americans are undiagnosed with diabetes mellitus, and approximately 86 million Americans ages 20 and older have blood glucose levels that considerably increase their risk of developing Diabetes Mellitus in the next several years (CDC, 2015). For diabetes care to be successful there needs to be a good understanding of the disease and management by both patients and healthcare providers,

Did you know that approximately 25% of the population is pre-diabetic? That’s not all, did you know that diabetes has become epidemic, and based on the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 25.8 million Americans have diabetes? Who knows whether this statistics is referring to me and you? However, even if the statistic is referring to you, you don’t have worry as far as you can exclude yourself in just 30 days.

Diabetes is a major problem in our society today. Many people have heard about the disease; however, they do not know too much about its complications. Diabetes is a chronic, progressive and lifelong condition that affects the body’s ability to use the energy found in food (WebMD, 2016). Many new cases are confirmed every year and unfortunately, many go undiagnosed for years. Diabetes is a serious disease and need to be taking seriously. The disease can lead to many other health problems such as blindness, nerve damage and kidney diseases. The more the community understand and made aware of the seriousness of the disease, the better it can be control and or prevented.

Chronic disease and conditions are usually defined as those diseases which last for more than six months and which have a severe effect on the life of the individuals (Chronic Conditions and Injury, para.1). While chronic diseases can affect people of all ages and demographics, these types of diseases are very often found in the elderly. Chronic disease are also characterized by "…multiple risk factors, long latency periods, a prolonged course of illness and functional impairment or disability" (Key indicators of progress for chronic disease and associated determinants, 2011, p. 1). Chronic disease is also found to be more prevalent in the ageing demographic of most countries.