Free Essay with a Discussion on Type 2 Diabetes in the United States

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that is linked to the body's inability to utilize insulin produced appropriately. This result to glucose accumulation in blood instead of being used as energy, leading to a condition known as hyperglycemia (Alberti, 2010). The Insulin hormone plays the role of regulating the glucose obtained from the food we eat. Type 2 diabetes is a global issue that affects all nations mainly the developed countries, the main contributing factors to this disease include, the nutrition transition, the rapid urbanization and the increasing change in lifestyle. The population at risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes are adults aged 18 years and above due to their high vulnerability to the risk factors associated with the type 2 diabetes (Bellamy, 2009). Some of the risk factors include obesity, physical inactivity, raised blood pressure, and abnormal cholesterol levels which leads to cardiovascular complications. The signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes include feeling tired and low energy levels, blurred vision, sores and cuts that do not heal quickly and feeling thirst that results in drinking more than usual. As the disease develops, the signs and symptoms become acute and are highly dangerous. In cases where the blood sugar level is high for a period, the signs and symptoms may include, yeast infections, foot pains and presence of dark patches on the skin.

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Global Burden of Type 2 Diabetes

Globally, the cases of Type 2 diabetes are on the increase, according to the international diabetes federation over 400 million people worldwide were living with diabetes as of 2015 (Shaw, 2010). In the year 2012, type 2 diabetes caused approximately 1.5 million deaths, whereby at least eight in every ten diabetes death occurred in the middle and low-income countries. The world health organization states that the number of deaths as a result of diabetes will be almost double by 2030. The key reason for the global rise in the number of cases of type 2 diabetes is obesity and overweight among the population. In 2010 it was estimated that diabetes accounted for approximately 12 % of the healthcare. expenditure globally or $376 billion an amount that is estimated to increase by 2013 (Shaw, 2010). The rise in the number of cases of type 2 diabetes is threatening to change the economic gains of the developing countries taking into consideration that many counties are not well equipped to manage the diabetes epidemic.

Type 2 Diabetes in the United States

In 2015, 1.5 million new cases of type 2 diabetes were reported among adults in the United States, all from the age of 18 years and older, more than half of the newly diagnosed cases were among adults aged 45 to 65 years, and the number was almost equal for both men and women (Nolan, 2011). A study by centers for disease control and Prevention (CDC) shows that type 2 diabetes accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all the diagnosed cases of diabetes among adults in the United States. According to centers for disease, control, and prevention 29.1 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with diabetes but 8.1 million may be undiagnosed or unaware of their condition. The increase in the number of cases of diabetes in the United States has resulted in the rise in government expenditure on health. The diagnosed cases of diabetes in 2012 cost the United States an estimated 245 billion dollars; this cost is expected to be on the rise due to the Increase in the number of diabetes cases (Nolan, 2011). Diabetes is considered to be among the leading cause deaths in the United States. In 2015, 79,535 death certificates listed diabetes as the underlining cause of death and 252,806 deaths certificated listed diabetes as the contributing factor of death (Vijan, 2010). .

Common Treatment And Other Forms Of Medication Used For Prevention

Type 2 diabetes management concentrates on keeping the blood sugar levels at normal; this can be achieved through various methods that include good dietary practice, appropriate medication, and physical exercises.

Medication

The medication used in diabetes treatment help in lowering the blood sugar level, there are different types of ant diabetic medications whereby some are available only through injections, for example, the GLP-1 agonists while others are available for mouth intake, for example, the metformin (Vijan, 2010). Metformin is advocated as a first-line treatment medication for type 2 diabetes since it is evident that it helps lower mortality whereby, It functions by reducing the rate of glucose production by the liver. Other types of medications that are mostly administered through the mouth may also help reduce blood sugar in type 2 diabetes. This includes the agents that reduce the amount of sugars intake from the intestines, agents that enhance insulin release and the agents that enhance the bodies' sensitivity to insulin

Health education

The population education is an important aspect of the disease management in the United States. The community workers act as the link between the healthcare and the population, thus creating awareness to the public on type 2 diabetes to ensure that the population understands the basics of type 2 diabetes, which include the risk factor and the signs and symptoms of diabetes. The awareness campaign is also spread through the creation of national youth panels of diabetes advocates. The youth panelist employs information campaigns on world diabetes day, press release, internet blogs that highlight the diabetes issues and lobbying peer-to-peer communication (Riserus, 2009). This helps spread the knowledge on type 2 diabetes to the entire population of the United States.

Observing proper dietary practice

High intake of calories is a major driving factor to the increased cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide. Eating a balanced diet is essential in the management and control of type 2 diabetes. The balanced diet constitutes of vegetables, whole grains, and other protein sources and is characterized by the low degree of energy density. This means that the diet taken should hinder weight gain and exhibit a protective effect that prevents the onset of type 2 diabetes, a condition that is partly maintained by the weight gain. A diabetic diet is a diet or food consumed by people with type 2 diabetes to help in lowering the diseases symptoms and the harmful disease consequences. The carbohydrates should be significantly minimized in a diabetic diet since it acts as a macronutrient that raises the blood sugar levels thus acting as the main source of calories. The recommended fraction of calories to be taken from carbohydrates should range from 20% to 45% (Riserus, 2009). The people with diabetes are needed to reduce the carbohydrate intake and consume little meals on a day.

Engaging in physical activities

Physical activities involve any body movement that triggers the body to burn calories, for example walking or running. When engaging in the physical activities, the body muscles make use of glucose present in the body thus reducing the risk of glucose building up in the body. In the United States, a large portion of the population does not engage in physical activities since technology, and modern living has withdrawn the May regular forms of activities thus putting the population at high risk of type 2 diabetes. The physical guideline advisory committee report recommends that adults should participate in physical activities in at least 30 minutes per day and five days a week of moderate aerobic exercises (Bellamy, 2009). Physical activities also have a huge advantage if one has type 2 diabetes since it helps delay diabetes from developing. The exercises improve the body's sensitivity to insulin thus helping in glucose level management.

The Barriers to the Treatment and Prevention of Diabetes

Lack of awareness

Creating awareness on the risk factors, management and complications of type 2 diabetes is a crucial factor for enhanced control and prevention. However, the absence of knowledge on the risk factors of diabetes hinders the preventive efforts and diabetes management, for example, the United States population with just high school education or lower are at a higher chance of not observing good dietary practice and not engage in physical activities compared to those that have attained university education. Therefore there is need to put more efforts in educating the population of United States to help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

The lack of healthy environments

Managing diabetes involves more than educating the people on the importance of eating a balanced diet, losing weight, and exercising regularly. The nature of the environment highly contribute to the habits lifestyle of its citizens this involves the chance to exercise, feed and sleep. Presence of unhealthy environment whose characteristics include lack of recreation facilities, parks, and fitness centers may hinder the population from controlling type 2 diabetes. The government should create an enabling environment through the creation of more parks and fitness centers to assist the population in the prevention or control of type 2 diabetes. The food environment such as the food stands and the supermarket may differ by neighbourhood, but they highly influence the individual health outcomes. For example, in the United States, the people with good access to the grocery stores and minimal access to the fast food stores experienced low obesity rates and had better diets thus they are not at risk of type 2 diabetes.

Lack of social support

Social support involves the exchange of resources between individuals with the purpose of enhancing the wellbeing of the receiver. The presence of proper social support is linked to the health education behavior among the people with type two diabetes. The family members can have either a negative or a positive effect on the health of the person with diabetes through offering support in the self-care duties such as helping in filling prescriptions. The relation between social support and disease management shows that those patients with experience of good social support could easily manage their diabetes disease compared to those that get low social support. In the United States research showed that the increased lack of social support is the leading factor to lack of adaptation to the healthy lifestyles among the people with type 2 diabetes.

The Role of the Primary Care Provider

Primary providers play an important role in the identification of patients at risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes based on their family history for example patients with a history of the sedentary lifestyle are at risk of attracting diabetes. In the United States, the primary care providers treat approximately 90% of the 24 million cases of type 2 diabetes presented in hospitals (Bellamy, 2009). The primary care provider also serves the purpose of educating the patients about the disease once the patient's tests are positive for type 2 diabetes. They guide the patients on how to control or manage the disease to the required level.

What Do You Predict Will Happen With the Disease Situation in Future?

The shape of type 2 diabetes in the United States is changing as the disease demographics shifts. In the past type 2 diabetes was associated with the population in the old age that is those in the 50s and 60s. The recent mean age of diabetes diagnosis is 46.0 which is a drop from the previous years (Bellamy, 2009). Currently, it is common to see people who are in their 20s and 30s being diagnosed with diabetes, this new developments of the disease has to lead the medical personnel to work with sophisticated treatment criteria than in the previous years (Bellamy, 2009)...