Table of Contents
Diabetes mellitus commonly referred to as diabetes in one of the first growing public health concerns in the recent past, both in developing and developed countries. Statistics show that the number of diabetes patients will continue increasing. It has also been proved that environmental and genetic factors are behind diabetes etiology. However, there has been little study on the interaction between exercise and genetic factors on diabetes despite medics confirmation that sedentary lifestyle and obesity are crucial lifestyle risks behind diabetes. Nevertheless, the study of diabetes is important because diabetes has been one of the most prevalent diseases in the world, especially in the US. This brought a lot of interest in studying this field as a whole.
The morbidity and comorbidity of diabetes
Diabetes has been a disease which has affected many people in the US. The prevalence of the disease in the US is estimated to be 29.1 million Americans. This represents 9.3% of the total population in the US. Statistics show that the number of children and adults in the US who have diabetes increased to 1.25 million people. This included the number of people who had diabetes 1 in the population of the children and adults in the US. The diagnosis of diabetes shows that out of a population of 29 Million people, only 21 million people were diagnosed with diabetes in the population and 8.1 million people were diagnosed to have no diabetes. In the US, the number of people aged 65 years and with diabetes remained at 25.9%. This is estimated to be more than 11.8 million people in the population. Diabetes is considered the 7t leading cause of death in the US with a total of 69,071 deaths. In terms of the youth who are affected with diabetes, about 208,000 youths in America aged below 20 years were estimated to have diabetes. This is approximated to be 0.25% of the overall population of the people (association, 2015). According to the analysis of data which was done in 2009, it was found out that the number of people who had diabetes 1 was 18,436 people and the people who had diabetes 2 were 5089.
Comorbidity is defined as the occurrence of one or more chronic conditions within one person. The frequency is high among the patients with diabetes. There are two main diseases which are highly susceptible to be comorbid with diabetes. This includes depression and the schizophrenia. Diabetes is a disease which affects 6.2% of the overall population in the US (Vesna Medved, 2009). The rate of prevalence of diabetes with other conditions like depression and anxiety is very high in the whole population. 11% of the patients living with diabetes are comorbid with the depression disorders. The symptoms of depression with the patients living with diabetes are estimated to be 31% of the overall population.
Impact of diabetes and its overall health effect on the nation
Diabetes has a lot of effects in the body. It damages the large blood vessels of the heart of human beings, the brain of humans and also the legs. Diabetes damages the small blood vessels in the body and it causes a lot of problems in the eyes the kidneys too. The nervous system of the human body is also affected by diabetes and the feet are also affected majorly.
Diabetes can affect the health of the overall people in the population. This is because diabetes will reduce the rate of doing working the population (Abdelouahed Naslafkih, 2003). It can change a nation from a working nation to an unhealthy nation. The prevalence of diabetes in a country can make the funds which are allocated to development projects to be reduced in order to improve the healthy status of a country. Therefore, this shows that diabetes can affect the whole population in a country.
Healthy People 2020 goals and objectives pertaining to DIABETES
The healthy people 2020 goals and all their objectives pertaining diabetes are aimed towards promotion of health and the reduction of the chronic infections risks. This includes the reduction of the risk factors of diabetes in the society. They also help in the consumption of the healthy diets in the society and assist in achieving and maintaining healthy bodies in individuals. The body weights in individuals are also reduced as a result of the integration of this plan.
In terms of dealing with diabetes, the healthy people 2020 goals have been used in order to attain high quality and longer lives to the patients who are living with the chronic infection. It can also reduce the rate of premature deaths in the population also. Another goal which is aimed at the health people 2020 is achieving equity in terms of health. This helps in reducing disparities which are related to the treatment of diabetes and also it assist in the improvement of all the groups in the society regardless of financial background. The goals assist in the creation of a social and physical environment which is good for the promotion of good health to the diabetes patients. The goals of the healthy people 2020 as used in the health development of individuals and also lead to the improvement of the healthy behaviors of all the people in the society. This makes the measures which are taken in order to reduce diabetes to be more effective.
Questionnaire for assessment of the diabetic patients
The following is a questionnaire for self-assessment of the diabetic patients
| Applies very much | Applies at a considerable level | Does not apply to me | ||
| 1 | Foods which I choose to eat makes it easy for me to achieve the optimal levels of blood sugar in the body. | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| 2 | I keep all the appointments with the doctors | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| 3 | I usually take all my diabetes medicines as prescribed by the physician | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| 4 | I usually record all my sugar level frequently | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| 5 | I do physical activities in order to maintain my blood sugar level in the body | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| 6 | My self-care abilities of diabetes are poor | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| 7 | I usually skip my diabetes medication often | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
- Abdelouahed Naslafkih, F. S. (2003). Diabetes Mellitus Related Morbidity, Risk of Hospitalization and Disability. Journal of Insurance Medicine, 102-113. association,
- A. d. (2015). Statistics About Diabetes. American diabetes association. Retrieved from http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/statistics/?referrer=https://www.google.com/
- Vesna Medved, N. J. (2009). THE COMORBIDITY OF DIABETES MELLITUS AND PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS. Psychiatria Danubina, 585–588.