Diabetes : Medical Nutrition Therapy And Prevention

Several nationwide programs and incentives were administered in the last couple of decades to promote awareness of diabetes and hopefully help prevent millions of Americans from developing diabetes. Health Agencies, such as World Health Organization (WHO) and Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have developed objectives to tackle diabetes. Some of these objectives include conducting surveillance and obtaining diabetes data to identify trends in the population, spreading awareness about the condition, and developing programs that will enhance diabetes care and ensure the longevity of the patients. Various programs have been developed but while some excel, others fail to benefit the lives of the patient.

The high dispersion of diabetes, especially through the aging population, comes at a considerable economic cost. Health care expenses for individuals with diabetes are 2.3 times greater than expenses for those without diabetes, and diabetes complications account for a significant amount of those cost.

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,

The Objective for Healthy People 2020 is to significantly reduce the chances of the high risk population and the population who has the disease. The goal is try to implement a change in their lifestyle choices. Health People 2020 reports that “44.6 percent of adults aged 18 years and over who were at high risk for diabetes with prediabetes reported increasing their levels of physical activity in 2005-08.” The 2020 baseline objective in 2005-08 was at 44.6 percent and

Costs incurred in the management of diabetes can be categorized as either direct or indirect, direct being the costs incurred in the management of the disease through medication, laboratory tests, physician and nursing care. Indirect cost, on the other hand, includes the cost of incurring a loss of productive individuals since the disease is associated with high mortality and morbidity. Over time the cost of management of diabetes has been rising with the increasing number of new cases of the disease. The cost of care for instance in 1980 ranged between 14 and 20 billion dollars. However, in 2002 the cost had increased to $132 billion, while the cost of managing the disease in the year 2007 was estimated at $174 billion in the United States

This essay will inform readers about the best practices, published guidelines, and clinical pathways for management of diabetes. Diabetes is a serious issue that affects millions of people. Unrecognized pre diabetes is also a growing concern that is increasing dramatically. Diabetes is not diagnosed for most homeless people, because they do not do have a yearly physical check-up. Published guidelines are useful to patients and practitioners because they focus on the improvement of care. Clinical pathways are also important, because they focus on the outcome and assessment of their achievement.

Type II diabetes is a disease that affects millions of people in the United States and is also a disease that is continually growing in numbers. The cost of the individual and national health care systems is also a number that is growing. Policy for prevention of diabetes and pre-diabetes is something that while has changed some in the past, has been basically the same for the past 20-25 yeas. This disease affects many throughout the country, but effects those in the middle and lower classes due to the cost of eating healthier being greater than the alternative and also due to the fact that these groups are less likely to go for routine health care.

In order to combat the epidemic of type 2 diabetes in America, a series of subsidies and social programs promoting and mandating nutrition and exercise for weight loss should be created with the trillion dollar budget. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in America is rising and has doubled over the last 30 years to 23 million (Campbell). Currently, it costs the nation about $90 billion a year to treat the complications of type 2 diabetes (Hoerger). Added with the co-morbidities of type 2 diabetes, namely cardiovascular disease, obesity, and kidney failure, it becomes apparent that drastic measures are needed. In order to combat this epidemic, the U.S. Congress is proposing to use a trillion dollars to do whatever it takes to reduce the

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.

The average health care spending of an American citizen was estimated to be $8,915, with $2.7 trillion total spent on health care, in 2012 (3). In addition, out-of-pocket spending on health care also imposes an economic burden. The total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes in 2012 was $245 billion, including $176 billion in direct medical costs and $69 billion in decreased productivity. Decreased productivity includes costs associated with people being absent from work, being less productive while at work, or not being able to work at all because of

Did you know diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States? (Fukunaga, 2011). Many are unaware approximately 25.8 million American’s, 8.3% of the population suffer from diabetes. Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM II) is by far the most prevalent and accounts for 90-95 percent of the 25.8 million diabetic patients. The long term complications of DM II make it a devastating disease. It is the leading cause of adult blindness, end-stage kidney disease, and non-traumatic lower limb amputation (Lewis, Dirksen, Heitkemper, & Bucher 2014, p. 1154). Not only is diabetes debilitating to patients but also the health and employment costs are substantial. According to Fukunaga (2011), “The estimated national cost of diabetes exceeds

There are costs of diabetes that the community pays for, helping those with the condition. These costs can be direct - costs linked specifically to diabetes, indirect - not specifically associated with diabetes, or intangible - being costs which aren’t physical, such as emotional pain. In relation to diabetes, community costs are increasing as is the number of individuals who have diabetes. Direct costs for communities can include funding treatment costs, cost of prevention strategies, cost of pharmaceuticals and cost of diagnosis. The direct cost of funding the treatment of diabetes includes having to pay for hospitalisation service costs. Even though the community as a whole has to assist in paying for the hospitalization of individuals experiencing diabetes. The average cost of hospitilisation services for people who have diabetes is around 6.3 billion dollars, most of which is coming from communities worldwide. Educating and promoting the younger generations of diabetes and the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle to prevent the condition also costs the community. Promotional campaigns such as WDD and Measure Up costs the community to run each year, so that the prevalence of diabetes can be reduced. Other promotional techniques such as talks with local schools and programs such as Healthy Harold costs the community to educate the younger generation on the importance of decreasing the amount of people with diabetes so that the costs to individuals

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

Obesity and Type 2 diabetes are inextricably linked. In many cases obesity contributes to Type 2 diabetes. Not only this but both conditions lead to other health problems, both render high costs to the individual and the health care cost both are increasing dramatically in the United States. According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014 stated that Stated that obesity now affects over one in five adults in the United States. 29.1 living with diabetes and 21.0 million people are diagnosed with diabetes in the United States. Also, data estimate there are further 8.1 million people who have the condition but don’t know.

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,