Obesity And Its Effects On The Field Of Public Health

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 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,

According to the American Diabetes Association, more Americans die each year from diabetes than from AIDS and breast cancer combined. As a result, researchers have extensively studied the causes, treatments, and interventions for diabetes. Despite efforts to ameliorate its effects, diabetes remains a prevalent danger in society. In 2014, 7% of U.S. adults were living with diagnosed diabetes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016). In Louisiana that number was even higher - 10.4% of adults have been diagnosed with diabetes. Breaking it down by age group, however, in Louisiana 3% of people aged 18 and 44 have been diagnosed, and 15.2% of people 45-64. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015a). Several studies have predicted future rates of diabetes both in the United States and worldwide - nearly all of these studies reached a similar conclusion: rates of diabetes will continue to rise (Boyle et al., 2001).

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

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a pandemic that affects millions of people. The growth rate of unrecognized pre-diabetes in America is expected to rise up to 52% by 2020 (Lorenzo, 2013). As the prevalence of diabetes increases, so will the complications and burden of the disease. One of the leading causes for cardiovascular disease, renal failure, nontraumatic lower limb amputations, stroke, and new cases of blindness is DM (Lorenzo, 2013).

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.

Diabetes growth is devastating to American families. Diabetes affects an estimated 23.6 million people in the United States (Healthy People 2020, 2016). In 2006, nearly ten years ago the number of individuals diagnosed with diabetes in the united states was just 17.3 million. Additionally, this number of those diagnosed has doubled since the year 2000 (CDC, 2015). Diabetes is defined by a disease in which the body cannot produce enough or any insulin for proper digestion of sugars and glucose. The elevated levels of glucose within the body cause major complications, some even irreversible (DaVita, 2016). With such an increase in diagnosed diabetes cases, this issue needs to be addressed and public action has to be taken. In a time where grocery stores are readily accessible with fresh fruits and vegetables to maintain a healthy lifestyle America should not have this issue.

Cadzow, R. B., Vest, B. M., Craig, M., Rowe, J. S., & Kahn, L. S. (2014). “Living Well with Diabetes”: Evaluation of a Pilot Program to Promote Diabetes Prevention and Self-Management in a Medically Underserved Community. Diabetes Spectrum, 27(4), 246-255 10p.

As there is currently no cure for diabetes, prevention is vital; this is achieved through raising awareness and advocating against the disease. Public health practitioner’s duty is to set up diabetes prevention and lifestyle programs across schools, workplaces, general public and communities. The programs should include:

At the community level, more than 200 YMCA chapters across the United States help people reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes with the YMCA Diabetes Prevention Program. This program helps individuals with prediabetes eat healthier, increase physical activity and lose weight to delay or prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes (“Program Overview,” 2017). In the program, a trained lifestyle coach guides small group discussion about behavior changes that can be beneficial for diabetes management through 25 one-hour sessions delivered across a one year time-span. The goals are to have the participants lose 5-7% of their body weight and gradually increase their exercise to 150 minutes per week (“About the Program,” 2017). Steps taken to

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,

This article summarizes available and relevant data addressing the management of diabetes highlighting the role of diabetes prevention-based programs. In addition, we review studies that have utilized programs that involved increased physical activity and diet modifications in the management of diabetes. We aimed to assess whether these changes improve the clinical signs of diabetes. We evaluated the methodology of the programs including appropriateness of study design, participant characteristics, and outcome measures. We present major results with independently assessed study limitations to evaluate the

As the healthcare market moves toward population health management, it is vital that healthcare providers manage high risk patients with chronic diseases effectively. Patients are becoming increasingly more involved in their care and they are seeking to make the health care delivery system more responsive to their own needs. The Chronic Care Model (CCM) uses a systematic approach to restructuring medical care to create partnerships between health systems and communities (Stellefson, Dipnarine, Stopka, 2013). Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke in the United States. It affects 25.6 million adults (Center for Disease Control (CDC), 2011). One of

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.