Diabetes in Canada - Medical Essay

Diabetes is a group of diseases which hinders the bodys ability to use or produce insulin. It is important to know that insulin is a hormone in our bodies which is responsible for turning glucose into energy which in turn helps our bodies to regulate blood sugar. Two main types of diabetes are the type I and the type 2. According to Ahmed (2012), type 2 diabetes is one of the rapidly growing diseases in Canada with more than 55,000 new cases reported annually. In fact, it is estimated that in a group of ten people with diabetes in Canada, there are high chances that nine of them have type 2 diabetes. The difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes is that with type 1 diabetes the body produces little or no insulin whereas in type 2 the body produces insulin, but it is unable to use it appropriately. At the moment, it is complicated to prevent type 1 diabetes, and people suffering from this kind of disease often use insulin for survival (Ahmed, 2012).

Diabetes is among the leading causes of death in Canada with over a million people having the disease. However, one-third of these people are oblivious that they have the disease. In 2008/09 for instance, it was observed that one of ten deaths in Canadian adults was caused by diabetes. Some populations such as the Aboriginals in Canada are at higher risk of diabetes. Also, it is important to know that over the last two decades the prevalence rates of this condition in Canada has grown from 2.7 percent to around 19 percent. Based on Based on Aroda (2012) findings, nearly 22.5 percent of all females in Canada have diabetes while approximately 40% of males have the condition (Aroda, 2012).

According to a recent report by WHO, diabetes is growing very fast, and it is becoming the new deadly disease. The report explains that over four hundred million people in the world right now are living with diabetes and most of these people come from the developing nations. The report continues to explain that the number of people living with this condition has risen tremendously from the 1980s and it estimated that the trend is likely to continue in the future. Therefore, it is imperative to critically discuss this issue and be able to come up with viable solutions to save the current and the future generations from this disease.

In 2013, diabetes claimed over a million lives worldwide and consequently, there are growing concerns about the rising health threats that this condition now poses worldwide (Cahn, 2013). Moreover, in 2015 it is estimated that nearly 500,000 children had diabetes and one in 11 adults had diabetes. These facts just show a little picture of how scary this disease has turned out to be. In fact, according to Cryer (2014), in every six seconds one person dies from diabetes. Treating diabetes is a costly affair, and it is estimated that nearly 12% of the global health expenditure is spent on diabetes which is approximately six hundred and seventy billion US dollars. Therefore it is essential to identify effective approaches which will help in avoiding and possibly preventing this condition in the future. This will enable the global sector to save a lot of money (Cahn, 2015).

Based on Edwards (2009) conclusions, the prevalence rates of type 2 diabetes has grown tremendously in the past three decades in almost every nation worldwide. It is no longer a disease of predominantly rich nations, in fact, its prevalence is steadily growing with the middle-income nations being the most affected. He also explains that prevention and treatment of diabetes among the people of modest means is often hard since most of them lack effective measures which allow them to access quality health care and most importantly lead a healthy life. And therefore, when left uncontrolled this condition tends to be harmful to the well-being of the people. Moreover, it adds that diabetes adversely affects the economies of the nations and also the finances of the individuals and their families. The member states are planning to develop appropriate methodologies which will help in reducing prevalence rates of diabetes in the world by one-third before 2030 (Edwards, 2009).

According to Lear (2010), the number of people with diabetes is expected to double in the year 2030; this will mean that there will be approximately seven hundred million people with diabetes in the world. The rising prevalence, especially from the middle and low-income nations has forced several international bodies such as the WHO to step in to mitigate the issue. These bodies particularly the WHO have come up with approaches which focus on fighting diabetes, a good example is how they have done a good job in raising awareness of diabetes. By raising the awareness of the condition, including its impacts and causes, WHO seeks to reduce the consequences of this disease in low and middle-income countries. On the other hand, individual governments should ensure that quality health care services are provided to all diabetic patients and also adequate finances are allocated towards the campaigns of advocating against diabetes (Lear, 2010).

Since 1980, diabetes prevalence in adults has risen in almost every country. Factors such as age and change of lifestyles have contributed to the tremendous increase in the incidences of diabetes worldwide. Nilsson (2010) explains that among the patients who had diabetes, thirty percent of them were undiagnosed of the disease. In fact, the largest increase in the number of people with diabetes was seen in the adults of the ages between sixty to sixty-four years. A notable increase in the number of diabetic individuals was observed from 127,608 in 1998/1999 to over 300,000 in 2008/2009 (Pozzilli, 2013). Over time, the longevity of the people living with this disease also increased due to advancements in earlier diagnosis and treatments. Also, it is imperative to realize that the over the years the prevalence of diabetes has always been higher among males than among the females. Moreover, it increases in every age group, with children recording low incidences of diabetes while adults recorded a higher number. With these data, we can make an assumption that in the next ten years the number of people living with diabetes is most likely to increase by 30% (Skyler, 2010). Drawing from the current prevalence rate and the WHO report findings, we realize that this condition is still growing at a faster rate and yet minimal measures have been taken to control the condition effectively. Moreover, we can see that the efforts of low and middle-income countries to contain the disease have not yet bored any fruits since they still report many incidences of diabetes in their countries. Therefore, not unless drastic changes are made, the prevalence of diabetes is expected to increase in future (Nilsson, 2010).

References

Ahmed, O. M., Gabar, M. A., & Ali, T. M. (2012). Impacts of the coexistence of diabetes and hypothyroidism on body weight gain, leptin and various metabolic aspects in albino rats. Journal of Diabetes and its Complications, 26(6), 491-500. doi:10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2012.05.021

Aroda, V. R., & Ratner, R. E. (2012). Interventional Trials to Prevent Diabetes: Diabetes Prevention Program. Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes, 143-166. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-3314-9_9

Cahn, A., Raz, I., & Itzhak, B. (2013). Practical Approach to the Implementation of Diabetes Prevention. Prevention of Diabetes, 195-208. doi:10.1002/9781118661321.ch13

Cryer, P. E. (2014). Diabetes, Diabetes, and the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes, 44(12), 1351-1354. doi:10.2337/diab.44.12.1351

Davidson, M. B. (2009). How Our Current Medical Care System Fails People With Diabetes: Lack of timely, appropriate clinical decisions. Diabetes Care, 32(2), 370-372. doi:10.2337/dc08-2046

Diabetes-Wissen mal anders - "Comedy meets Diabetes". (2013). Diabetes aktuell, 11(06), 276-276. doi:10.1055/s-0033-1360447

Edwards, R. A., Graham, A., Williams, M., Amati, M., Wright, C., Lee, M., . . . Hughes, N. (2009). Quantifying a Strategic View of Diabetes Technology Impacts: A System Dynamics Approach. Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, 11(7), 411-418. doi:10.1089/dia.2008.0089

Goldberg, A. L. (2010). Influence of Insulin and Contractile Activity on Muscle Size and Protein Balance. Diabetes, 28(Supplement_1), 18-24. doi:10.2337/diab.28.1.s18

Heldgaard, P. E., & Griffin, S. J. (2006). Routinely collected general practice data aids identification of people with hyperglycaemia and metabolic syndrome. Diabetic Medicine, 23(9), 996-1002. doi:10.1111/j.1464-5491.2006.01929.x

Jaffar, S. (2016). Diabetes and other non-communicable diseases in Africa: a potential disaster in the waiting. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 4(11), 875-877. doi:10.1016/s2213-8587(16)30216-9

Khedr, M. S., Ahmed, H. M., Seliem, H. A., & El-Deib, A. R. (2000). Prevalance And Risk Factors Of Poor Glycemic Control In Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus Patients. Scientific Medical Journal, 12(3). doi:10.4314/smedj.v12i3.13026

Lear, J. T., Lawrence, I. G., & Burden, A. C. (2010). Prevalance of diabetes in elderly patients requiring permanent cardiac pacemaker insertion. Acta Diabetologica, 33(2), 169-170. doi:10.1007/bf00569430

Nilsson, P., Johansson, S., & Sundquist, J. (2011). Low educational status is a risk factor for mortality among diabetic people. Diabetic Medicine, 15(3), 213-219. doi:10.1002/(sici)1096-9136(199803)15:3<213::aid-dia569>3.3.co;2-r

Peltonen, M., & Landgraf, R. (2013). Quality Management and Outcome Evaluation in Diabetes Prevention. Prevention of Diabetes, 129-143. doi:10.1002/9781118661321.ch9

Pozzilli, P. (2013). Genetic Screening and Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes. Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes, 81-92. doi:10.1002/0470857358.ch5

Skyler, J. S. (2010). Effects of Glycemic Control on Diabetes Complications and on the Prevention of Diabetes. Clinical Diabetes, 22(4), 162-166. doi:10.2337/diaclin.22.4.162

Splete, H. (2009). U.S. Prevalance of Diabetes and Prediabetes Reaches New High. Internal Medicine News, 42(5), 17. doi:10.1016/s1097-8690(09)70171-4

Young, A. A., & Edwards, G. L. (2005). Effects of Diabetes Mellitus on Gastrointestinal Function in Animal Models. Gastrointestinal Function in Diabetes Mellitus, 29-95. doi:10.1002/0470013877.ch2

Young, B., & Dean, J. D. (2006). Navigating services for people with diabetes through the storms of health-care policy development. Diabetic Medicine, 23(12), 1277-1280. doi:10.1111/j.1464-5491.2006.02006.x

Diabetes Management at Camps for Children With Diabetes. (2011). Diabetes Care, 35(Supplement_1). doi:10.2337/dc12-s072