When it comes to diseases, diabetes is one of the nastiest. Diabetes is a chronic health condition that comes with a host of scary and debilitating conditions that can profoundly affect a person’s ability to live a normal life. In fact diabetes affects almost every part of the human body.

 

The good news is that many of these complications can be avoided with proper fitness, nutrition and medical monitoring.

• Diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death due to disease in the United States. The death rate among some minority groups is even higher.
• In 2000, diabetes was responsible for 213,062 deaths nationwide and is likely to be underreported as a cause of death.
• The risk for death among people with diabetes is twice that of people without diabetes.
Since 1980, the death rate due to diabetes has increased by 30 percent while the death rate has fallen for other common multi-factorial diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Life expectancy of people with diabetes averages 10 to 15 years less than that in the general population.

Each year in the United States, nearly 40,000 people with diabetes are diagnosed with kidney failure, a serious condition in which the kidneys fail to rid the body of wastes. African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos develop diabetes related kidney failure at rates higher than the national average. Of the nation’s 22 million diabetics, 10% to 15% will develop kidney disease. An estimated 25% of all kidney and dialysis patients are diabetic. People with kidney failure must undergo either dialysis, which substitutes for some of the filtering functions of the kidneys or, in the event of a complete failure, a transplant to receive a healthy donor kidney. Most U.S. citizens who develop kidney failure are eligible for federally funded care. In 2000, care for patients with kidney failure cost the nation nearly $20 billion, with at least 10% to 15% of that cost potentially avoidable.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major complication in people with diabetes. Nearly 70% of all people with diabetes have high blood pressure. It contributes to the development of kidney problems, the incidence of heart attacks and strokes in people with diabetes.

Hypertension can also result from damage created by diabetes, creating a dangerous spiral. Early detection and treatment of even mild hypertension is essential for people with diabetes.

• Heart disease is presently the leading cause of diabetes-related deaths. Diabetics are 2 to 4 times more likely to develop heart disease than non-diabetics.
• About 65% of deaths among people with diabetes are due to heart disease and stroke.
• The risk for stroke is 6 times higher among people with diabetes.

 

• Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults aged 20-74 years.
• Diabetic retinopathy causes up to 24,000 new cases of blindness each year.

60% to 70% of all diabetics have mild to severe forms of nervous system damage which can affect the ability to walk, participate in daily living activities or work. Symptoms are often minor at first, and since most nerve damage occurs over several years, mild cases may go unnoticed for a long time. In some people, however, the onset of pain may be sudden and severe. Numbness, tingling, or pain in the feet and/or hands is often the first sign and a person can experience both pain and numbness. Severe forms of diabetic nerve disease are a major contributing cause of lower-extremity amputations.

More than 60% of non-traumatic lower-limb amputations occur among people with diabetes. In 2000-2001, about 82,000 non-traumatic lower-limb amputations were performed among people with diabetes. Globally, every 30 seconds a lower limb is lost to diabetes.

Once an individual has amputation significant complications and challenges to daily living activities occur.

The possibility of acute life-threatening events, such as coma, can result from biochemical imbalance in uncontrolled diabetes. There can also be complications when your blood sugar goes too low; you become hypoglycemic, which can cause mood swings, weakness, fatigue and fainting.

• People with diabetes are at greater risk of peripheral arterial disease (PAD).
• People with diabetes are 3 times more likely to die of complications from flu or pneumonia, up to 30,000 people each year.
• People with diabetes are at a 65% greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
• Almost one-third of people with diabetes have severe periodontal disease, a type of gum disease that leads to tooth loss.  
• High incidence of the following cancers: Cancer of the liver, colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer. 
• Twice the risk of developing hearing loss. 
• Poorly controlled diabetes can cause major birth defects during pregnancy; and miscarriages in 15 - 20% of diabetics' pregnancies. It also poses a greater risk to both mother and child during the pregnancy. 
 
Many of the Warning Signs of diabetes come on gradually and are not particularly noticed right away. This can prolong the length of time for the disease to develop and possibly lead to unnecessary complications.

This is why we at Defeat Diabetes Foundation put so much emphasis on early detection of the disease through extensive public awareness programs of the Warning Signs of diabetes and the taking of our Defeat Diabetes® Screening Test.

 

 

Update 2010