Web of Diabetes Causation in the Elderly

“The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life” (World Health Organisation (WHO), 2009). The social determinants of health can be divided into 5 categories, age, sex and hereditary factors, individual lifestyle factors, social and community networks, living and working conditions and general socioeconomic, cultural and

According to the United States Library of Medicine, diabetes is a disease that occurs when the body does not make or use insulin correctly, therefore causing fluctuating amounts of glucose in the blood. Diabetes is a disease that affects millions of adults and children from various cultures. According to the American Diabetes Association (2014), someone is diagnosed with diabetes every 19 seconds. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention most recent statistical report indicated there were 29.1 million adults and children affected by diabetes. Those numbers are astounding. Unfortunately, the American Diabetes Association (2014) estimates by year of 2050, one out of three adults will have diabetes. Therefore, it is imperative that adults take aggressive measures to prevent this disease. By the same token, diabetes diagnosed in children and adolescent is becoming more prevalent every day. The American Diabetes Association (2014) reported there were about 216, 00 children in the United States with diabetes. It is predicted that one out three children will be diagnosed with diabetes in their life. The statistics for both adults and children with diabetes are frightening; however, early detection can help lower the risk of developing the debilitating effects of diabetes.

There are many different factors that can increase your chance of becoming ill and dying. The different factors are social class, gender, age and ethnicity. The different social groups I will look at are social class and gender. I am going to look into how these affect health; I will also explain the pattern and trends. I am using gender because it fits in with the sociological perspective feminism and social class fits in with Marxism.

risk factors for disease and injury, socioeconomic status, access to health care use due to

A fundamental component to the definition of vulnerability is the concept of risk, or the relative probability that an individual may become ill within a given period of time (Aday, 1994). Community and individual characteristics are risk factors predictive of the incidence of vulnerability. Risk factors, for example smoking or lead exposure, are attributes that are related to increases in the probability of occurrence of health-related outcomes (Aday, 1998). Evidence of differences in vulnerability or increased risk, which lead to negative health outcomes include: premature mortality, comparative morbidity, decreased functional and mental status, decreased ability to

Friis and Sellers (2004) defined Epidemiology as the science concerned with the distribution and determinants of health and diseases, morbidity, injuries, disability, and mortality in populations. The primary goal of epidemiology is to identify the determinants of

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (2011), 18.5 % of the United States population is over the age of 60 years. Of these, 10.9 million (26.9%) are diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (ADA, 2011.) In Lewis and associates’ text book on Medical- Surgical nursing, Lewis states that the incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM) increases with age (Lewis, Dirksen, Heitkemper, Bucher, and Camera, 2011.) The purpose of this paper is to explore the disease process of diabetes mellitus in the geriatric population.

According to a study provided in USNews, there are regional issues when it comes to the rates of type-2 diabetes within the United States today (Seppa, 2011). The "diabetes belt" that can clearly be seen in the Southeast part of the country is one of these regional issues. Southern people, on average, tend to have a higher incidence of diabetes than people in other areas of the country. With that in mind, it is important to realize that there are various reasons why that is the case. It is not just one factor causing the problems, and it is not just the Southeast where diabetes is seen. There are other areas of the country where pockets of diabetes are seen, so no specific place or region of the country is immune to problems with diabetes. The following map shows the basic breakdown of diabetes across the country for the latest year where statistics on the issue are available (Seppa, 2011).

Diabetes at one point in time was a disease that was known to only affect older adults. But in today’s time it has become something that not only affects the older population but every age group. Diabetes has become an economic amount of weight on individuals in today’s society due to the increase in size of the population. What is Diabetes, Diabetes Mellitus is a common Metabolic Disorder it passes large amounts of urine that has been described by Greek and by Roman Physician as Diabetes. The term Mellitus refers and means a sweet taste (Barrett, Biotanio, and Brooks 2012). The name of the Disease reveals one of the most important Clinical manifestations, which are passing sweet- tasted urine and in other words means the presence of sugar in person urine.

Individuals vary widely in their perception of susceptibility to a disease based on their demographic, social, psychological and structural influences.

Observational epidemiology is a study of disease where “the investigator ascertains exposure and outcome without assignment to an intervention” Observational studies have made important contributions to the knowledge and understanding of health-related conditions. These studies usually involve a large group of individuals as in a community. The purpose of this type of study is to determine the

Acting in different levels, from micro to macro, those determinants have effect in a complex interplay of a multidirectional flow between the individual and the social scope. They are normally and roughly grouped into categories, such as individual factors interpersonal factors, institutional and community environments, broader social, economic and political influences. That concept allows explain why some people and groups are at higher risk for develop some diseases instead of others, and that is a very important key for a better understanding of its prevalence and to design more effective prevention strategies.

An array of factors like personal, social, economic, and environment issues influence and determines the health of individual and population, acting in various combination (Knickman & Kovner, 2015). These determinants of health, known as population health determinants generally include genetics, access to health care, individual behavior, social determinant, physical environment (Knickman & Kovner, 2015).

Epidemiology is a study that depends on working knowledge probability or statistics and other research methods. Then, it is a method of causal reasoning for developing and testing of hypotheses in the fields of behavioral sciences, biology, ergonomics, physics and others. It is not just a research activity that is related to public health but is a good tool for practical application and public health action bases on causal reasoning and

Research is looking into genetic, hormonal and environmental risk factors in the cause of diseases. Possible exposure to certain things in the environment like the sun, infections, drugs, or, in some cases, pregnancy, may cause the immune system to