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Diabetes Is A Disease Of The Endocrine System

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World-wide, large portions of populations are impacted by a life-altering disease called Diabetes. There are many types of diabetes, however type 2 specifically tends to affect more people than any other type. Diabetes is a disease of the endocrine system and is the result of high blood glucose, or blood sugar, and the lack of insulin doing its job properly. In 1910, an English Physiologist by the name of Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer discovered the disease, diabetes. He also discovered Insulin while studying the pancreas. Using radioimmunoassay technology, Rosalyn Yalow and Solomon Berson in 1959 realized that there were notable differences between diabetics, which later became known as type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes …show more content…

Type 2 can be developed at any given age; however, it occurs most often in middle-aged and elderly people. Age is a huge indication of being at risk for this type, especially if you are over the age of 45, but is also dependent on other factors such as family history, obesity, genes, family history, and physical activity. According to the American Diabetes Association, “About 95 percent of cases in adults are type 2 diabetes”. Also, it has been shown that if one has gestational diabetes while pregnant, developing type 2 diabetes is more likely. More and more cases of not only diabetes but type 2 cases are being discovered each day. (“Diabetes Overview”, n.d.) There are no designated “stages” for type 2 diabetes or diabetes overall. Progression rates are completely dependent on the person’s body and how it reacts to the disease. Medications and treatments tend to be more intense when initially diagnosed. Diagnosis of diabetes can be achieved in various ways. Some of these ways include random blood sugar tests, fasting plasma glucose tests (FPG), and glycated hemoglobin (A1C) tests. The most common diagnostic tool is the glycated hemoglobin test, also known as an A1C test. This tests the blood to show a person’s average blood glucose level from the past 2-3 months. Typically, if a person has an A1C level of above 6.5 percent, then they are considered diabetic. If their level is between 5.7-6.4 percent,

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