Diabetes Hospital Admissions Up 16.8 Percent In Pennsylvania

Report: Lehigh, Northampton Counties Below State Average.

By Ann Wlazelek
Of The Morning Call

Efforts to prevent or control diabetes in Pennsylvania don't seem to be working — at least not yet, the latest state report on hospital admissions shows.

The ''Diabetes Hospitalization Report,'' to be released today by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council in Harrisburg, shows a 16.8 percent increase in the number of people admitted from 1997 to 2001 because of the chronic, incurable disease.

That's 43,000 more people since the 255,000 admitted five years ago, in part due to the rising elderly and obese populations in the state.

According to the report, African-Americans continued to be the highest risk group for diabetes, end-stage renal disease and amputations. And, in the region, Carbon (24.3 percent) and Schuylkill (27.8 percent) counties continued to report admission rates higher than the statewide rate of 18.3 people per 10,000 residents.

(Other area counties reported lower than statewide admission rates: Berks, 18.6 percent; Bucks, 25.8 percent; Lehigh, 22 percent; Monroe, 20.5 percent; Montgomery, 30.4 percent; and Northampton, 2.6 percent.)

''Despite the efforts of many health-related organizations, state and federal agencies and dedicated individuals, hospitalizations resulting from diabetes and its complications continue to increase,'' said Marc P. Volavka, the data council's executive director.

''Obviously, we need to continue, if not redouble, our efforts to diagnose and, more importantly, manage the treatments of this terrible disease.''

Diabetes, which can lead to blindness, limb amputations and death, occurs when the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone, to break down sugar into fuel for cells.

Without insulin, excess sugar builds up in the bloodstream, irritating and blocking the lining of blood vessels. Over time, such blockages can shut down every system in the body.

Treatment includes frequent finger-sticks to assess the amount of sugar in the blood and adjustments with pills, insulin injections and control of other risk factors.

Nationwide, approximately 17 million Americans have diabetes, including more than 500,000 in Pennsylvania. Yet, an estimated one-third of Americans do not know they have the disease.

The report's grim statistics came as no surprise to Dr. Larry Merkle, a Lehigh Valley gland and diabetes specialist.

''There's an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes,'' the most common form, he said. ''It will only get worse for a long time. It could even take a generation to turn around.''

But that doesn't mean intense efforts by doctors, nurses and even health insurers to help area residents control their blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and weight are not having an effect on people's health.

Merkle said grant money that paid for nurse practitioners to devote time to educating and monitoring patients with diabetes in four large primary care practices has shown measurable improvements in those risk factors.

Grant money, he said, may also pay for a van to screen and educate people in other counties, such as Carbon and Schuylkill, who might not have access to as many health care services.

Dr. Mohammad Arastu, chief of endocrinology at St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill, said diabetes and insulin resistance are complex conditions that can be attacked with some simple solutions.

Encouraging people to walk every day ''is an extremely good way to reduce weight and probably lower risks,'' he said. Modifiable risk factors include obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.

Source:  The Morning Call.

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