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What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels
are above normal. Most of the food we eat is turned
into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for energy.
The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes
a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the
cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body
either doesn't make enough insulin or can't use its
own insulin as well as it should. This causes sugar
to build up in your blood. Diabetes can cause serious
health complications including heart disease, blindness,
kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetes
is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
What are the symptoms of diabetes?
People who think they might have diabetes must visit
a physician for diagnosis. They might have SOME or NONE
of the following symptoms:
Frequent urination
Excessive thirst
Unexplained weight loss
Extreme hunger
Sudden vision changes
Tingling or numbness in hands or feet
Feeling very tired much of the time
Very dry skin
Sores that are slow to heal
More infections than usual.
What are the types of diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes, which was previously called insulin-dependent
diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or juvenile-onset diabetes,
may account for 5% to 10% of all diagnosed cases of
diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, which was previously called
non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset
diabetes, may account for about 90% to 95% of all diagnosed
cases of diabetes. Gestational diabetes is a type of
diabetes that only pregnant women get. If not treated,
it can cause problems for mothers and babies. Gestational
diabetes develops in 2% to 5% of all pregnancies but
usually disappears when a pregnancy is over. Other specific
types of diabetes resulting from specific genetic syndromes,
surgery, drugs, malnutrition, infections, and other
illnesses may account for 1% to 2% of all diagnosed
cases of diabetes.
What are the risk factors for diabetes?
Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include older age,
obesity, family history of diabetes, prior history of
gestational diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, physical
inactivity, and race/ethnicity. African Americans, Hispanic/Latino
Americans, American Indians, and some Asian Americans
and Pacific Islanders are at particularly high risk
for type 2 diabetes. Risk factors are less well defined
for type 1 diabetes than for type 2 diabetes, but autoimmune,
genetic, and environmental factors are involved in developing
this type of diabetes. Gestational diabetes occurs more
frequently in African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans,
American Indians, and people with a family history of
diabetes than in other groups. Obesity is also associated
with higher risk. Women who have had gestational diabetes
are at increased risk for later developing type 2 diabetes.
In some studies, nearly 40% of women with a history
of gestational diabetes developed diabetes in the future.
Other specific types of diabetes, which may account
for 1% to 2% of all diagnosed cases, result from specific
genetic syndromes, surgery, drugs, malnutrition, infections,
and other illnesses.
Is there a cure for diabetes?
In response to the growing health burden of diabetes,
the diabetes community has three choices: prevent diabetes;
cure diabetes; and improve the quality of care of people
with diabetes to prevent devastating complications.
All three approaches are actively being pursued by the
US Department of Health and Human Services. Both the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are involved
in prevention activities. The NIH is involved in research
to cure both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, especially
type 1. CDC focuses most of its programs on being sure
that the proven science is put into daily practice for
people with diabetes. The basic idea is that if all
the important research and science are not applied meaningfully
in the daily lives of people with diabetes, then the
research is, in essence, wasted.
Several approaches to "cure" diabetes are being pursued:
Pancreas transplantation
Islet cell transplantation (islet cells produce insulin)
Artificial pancreas development
Genetic manipulation (fat or muscle cells that don’t
normally make insulin have a human insulin gene inserted
— then these "pseudo" islet cells are transplanted into
people with type 1 diabetes).
Each of these approaches still has a lot of challenges,
such as preventing immune rejection; finding an adequate
number of insulin cells; keeping cells alive; and others.
But progress is being made in all areas.
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