The Causes of Diabetes Prevalence in the United States - Literature review Example

Chronic Health Problem definition Over the last 20 years, diabetes has become one of the greatest and the most commonly known chronic diseases all over the world. Normally, diabetes is not an aging condition and is capable of infecting any individual at any stage of his or her life. It is commonly experienced in the young age, old age and even sometimes in the pregnant mothers. Many individuals came to learn about diabetic chronic condition in the late 1990 but its history can be trace back to the 18th century (Spine, n.d). in the past, different individual had a misconception that diabetes is a rich-related disease. This misconception has however been disowned following the highly reported cases of diabetes to a point that it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that diabetes is one of the most dangerous killer diseases in the world (Kirkman et.al 2009). Diabetes is a chronic health condition that American citizens have come to find terms of living with since it has been there for more than a decade. It has had different negative impacts not only to the individual families who have lost their loved ones but also to the government and more specifically to the American healthcare systems following the high costs of health care. In 1997 alone it was estimated that approximately five percent of the American population suffered from diabetes health condition. In the same year, the health care expenses of such individuals both direct and indirect expenses were estimated to be around ninety eight billion dollars (Atkinson, Eisenbarth, & Michels, 2014). He (2011), further breaks down these costs to thirteen thousand, two hundred and forty three dollars for every single individual patient. Today, it is estimated that the American government spends more than a hundred and seventy million dollars every year for health expenses that are related to diabetes (Mann et.al, 2009). Extent of the health condition The young aged, women and the old aged are more vulnerable to diabetes more than the other groups of the society. In a survey done by Kirkman et.al (2009), pregnancies and depressions do contribute to rise in cases of morbidity and mortality in women. Recently, it has been established that diabetes is among the leading killer diseases in America especially among the old with prevailing statistics roughly estimating that around twenty five percent of American population beyond sixty five years have a diabetic condition and in the risk of losing their lives (Pine, n.d.; Kirkman et.al, 2012). Diabetes disease comes in three forms; type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. In a recent survey by Atkinson, Eisenbarth, and Michelsn (2014), approximately seven hundred thousand citizens of US have the type 1 condition which is normally diagnosed amongst children and the adolescents and sometimes called juvenile diabetes (He, 2011). On the other hand, type 2 diabetes which is common amongst the adult population commonly referred to as adult-onset diabetes is estimated to have affected approximately fifteen million American citizens. In statistics, this means that one in every group of ten adults possesses the type 2 condition (Mann et.al, 2009). Different researcher believes that the diabetes type 2 is common amongst a certain ethical groups of the American population and genetically present in certain families (Atkinson, Eisenbarth, and Michelsn, 2014). The gestational diabetes is also a common form of diabetes common in pregnant mother. There are also other forms of diabetes but are believed to affect the least individuals in the community hence rare. Morbidity and mortality in the United States He (2011), outline that in general; seventeen million American citizens are diabetic and that in the last ten years, the reported cases of diabetes have also doubled. This has further increased the number of individuals living with diabetes in America to around six percent of the general American population with people in rural areas showing a greater percentage to the disease than the ones in the urban areas. Diabetes has today been ranked among the three major chronic health conditions terrorizing American citizens in the rural areas and also the sixth leading killer disease in America. Back in the year 2000, diabetes resulted in a death tally of 68,662 America citizens, a figure twice as much as the no-diabetic individual across the entire American community. These deaths were highly linked to the kidney diseases that are common amongst diabetic culprits. Apart from the deaths resulting from this health condition in this particular year, diabetes further resulted in 74,927 workers becoming permanently disabled (He, 2011). Morbidity and mortality in the United States compared to the international community Today, even though the American diabetic cases are on the rise, there are nations that are facing a real catastrophe. Diabetic conditions are more experienced in nation of the east such as India, Pakistan and nations of Africa in a higher rate than even in America even though statistics shows a very small margin on the number of the reported cases (Spine, n.d.). In Australia for example, approximately a million Australian natives have been diagnosed as diabetic which is a 4.4 per cent of the entire Australian population and resulting into hundreds of thousands of deaths occurring in Australia (JDRF, 2012). Also, other researchers have indicated that over three million Australian citizens over 25 years of age will have diabetes come 2025 (JDRF, 2012). This has seen diabetes ranked among the top ten Austrian killer diseases since it accounts for approximately three percent of country’s deaths every year (JDRF, 2012). Some nations such as England are not badly hit by diabetes. Several scientists have also genetically argued that people belonging to South Asian nations such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and African nations are likely to suffer from diabetes health conditions more than white European and American nations (Rupal, & Mary, 2010). Disease description Diabetes is a chronic condition that results from lack of production of insulin or lack of production of enough insulin or both which is a result of the disorders in the metabolism mechanisms of carbohydrates, amino acids or even lipids (Atkinson, Eisenbarth, and Michelsn, 2014). There are different types of diabetes developed by different individuals; type 1 diabetes results from complete failure of the body to produce insulin, type 2 diabetes results from failure of sufficient production of necessary insulin required by the body or even as a result of body resistance to the produced insulin and gestational diabetes arising from pregnancies (Atkinson, Eisenbarth, and Michelsn, 2014). Different bodies naturally react differently towards production of insulin necessary for digestion with underlying factors being predisposition of the genetic factors, environmental factors and the age factor (Roupa, 2009). Genetic factors in a person Genes play a vital role in the development of the diabetic conditions in a human body (Rupal, & Mary, 2010). Diabetic conditions in some individuals arise from heredity of the genes from a family member and more specifically a parent. Genetically, children and family members have a similar genetic predisposition hence a high likelihood of one inheriting genes that can result in diabetes disease from parents or relatives if he or she belongs to a family that has a history of diabetic conditions (Atkinson, Eisenbarth, and Michelsn 2014). This explains the fact that naturally certain individuals are just diabetic. There are also other personal behaviors that are likely to contribute towards development of diabetes conditions. Factors such as smoking habits, excess eating habits and lack of physical body exercises are likely to contribute towards diabetic health conditions (Roupa, 2009). This is because such behaviors as excess eating and lack of exercises are likely to result in obesity. But all this depends on the predisposition of genes in a body of an individual because there are smokers who are never diabetic and also there are those individuals who do not exercise and yet they are as well non diabetic. Environmental conditions where a person lives Different persons also respond differently to different climatic conditions. Places of living also have an effect on development of diabetic conditions. Different environmental conditions result into varied production of insulin in the body and different reaction of the same (Roupa, 2009). A research by He (2011) for example revealed that people living in rural areas have a high risk of becoming diabetic as compared to the ones in urban areas. This is as a result of the fact that those living in rural areas undergo more difficulties hence they are more depressed and suffers depressions ore than individuals in urban areas. On the other hand, Pine (n.d.) argues that individuals living in rural areas are likely to become diabetic once they migrate into urban areas. This is as a result of increased comfort and maybe the change in the eating habits which may result into increased production of calories in the body resulting in obesity which is a contributing factor to diabetic conditions. Time factor Time is quite an influential factor in development of diabetes in a human body. That is the reason why at some point in life different individuals are vulnerable to diabetes more than other individual members of the community. According to Atkinson, Eisenbarth, and Michelsn (2014) age is a vital determinant of whether an individual is likely to suffer from diabetes or not. This is the explanation behind the fact that type 1 diabetes is associated with juveniles and the type 2 diabetes associated with the elderly members of the community. This is so because, bodies of children are likely to completely fail in production of insulin and the bodies of the elderly men and women with time fail to produce enough insulin needed by the body to digest the carbohydrates or develops resistance to the insulin produces (Roupa, 2009). Identifying and describing pertinent studies to the disease Kirkman et.al (2009) and Stolar et.al (2008) have p focused on how the type 2 diabetes condition is distributed in our community. Kirman et.al (2009) illustrates the type 2 diabetes as a common occurrence to older adults in the society by clearly outlining that at least twenty five percent of individual with more than sixty five years are diabetic. He further links the type 2 condition are highly determined and attributable to the different lifestyles of different individuals and puts both rural and urban areas in a contrast. He finds that individuals in rural areas are at a higher risk of being diabetic than those in urban areas and further attributes diabetes to the high mortality rates as a result of the vulnerability of old aged to micro vascular as well as the cardiovascular complications that normally results into deaths (Kirkman et.al, 2009). Stolar et.al (2008) on the other hand suggests that approximately ninety five percent of the reported diabetes cases in a society are the type 2 diabetes. He also goes on to show how cases of the type 2 diabetes have increased among the young aged in the society in the last twenty five years and how in America the black American and Latin American citizens have a high tendency of being diabetic as compared to the white American citizens. Mann et.al (2009) in his study on a specific group of individuals who reported in a certain hospital for diabetic medication revealed the majority diabetic patients he recorded were the older aged members of the society and had a life expectancy of less than a year. In this he was trying to show that age is a factor in how this disease has distributed itself in our community. Roupa, (2009) further revealed that women in the society have a high probability of becoming diabetic following their high percentages of anxiety and high risks of being depressed. Data interpretation issues The key data interpretation issues likely to show up in such a scenario normally revolve around the data analysis procedures applied, time frame of the research process as well as the reliability and the validity of the data collected for such a study (Kirkman et al., 2012). Some of the data interpretation issues involved include; issues of generalization of data. In that it is normally hard to clearly generalize the findings of researches of how a disease such as diabetes has spread in a certain community following the different societal structures and causes of the diabetic conditions which are different across different societies as a result of socio-economic structures, genetic predispositions and also the fact that there are societies made up of more than one ethnic group hence can reveal quite different causes to diabetic conditions. Also, the issue of assumption of the unreported cases is also a vital data interpretation issue in that different individuals would make varied assumptions in relation to the unreported diabetic cases and it is hard for a person to correctly estimate the unreported diabetic cases in a certain community (Dave, Vanikar, & Trivedi, 2014). Pertinent knowledge gaps First, there is need for a longitudinal research study on causal factors of all the diabetic conditions in different communities across the world since there is very little information on type one diabetes and gestational diabetes and also there need for more research on the type 2 diabetes that appears to the most common amongst others so as to as to establish more explanations as to why the type 2 diabetes cases are on the rise (Stolar et al., 2008; Roupa, 2009). Experimental design A longitudinal study on the factors that lead to all forms of diabetic conditions in different communities across a community would involve increasing the time frame on the observation period of the various factors attributed to the different diabetic conditions. This way the researcher would be able to frequently observe various causal factors and adequately establish sufficient correlation amongst them. In this case therefore, the researcher will be in a position to adequately make valid judgments and conclusions on the effects of such factors on diabetes hence making proper and overall generalization to the community and other communities of the world (Bhargava, 2003). The treatment and preventative measures I would advocate for following measures as the most applicable treatment and preventive measures to control diabetes in our community. First, proper nutrition for all individual members of the community in that improper nutrition is a key factor that results to the type 2 diabetic conditions and which are the most common in our community (Mann et al., 2009). Second, physical exercising on daily basis will help cut down fats and reduce the levels of carbohydrates to the overweight individuals hence reducing chances of obesity. Thirdly, proper medication and care on top of proper feeding would also be vital to the old and infants who cannot be able to exercise their bodies. This would highly curb diabetic conditions in the community (Stolar et al., 2008). References Atkinson, M., Eisenbarth, G., & Michels, A. (2014). Type 1 diabetes. Lancet, 383, 69-82. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/1473891700/abstract?accountid=458 Bhargava, A. (2003). A longitudinal analysis of the risk factors for diabetes and coronary heart disease in the Framingham Offspring Study. Population Health Metrics, 1(3).  Retrieved from http://www.pophealthmetrics.com/content/1/1/3 Dave, S., Vanikar, A., & Trivedi. H. (2014). Diabetes. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 29 (3), 51–52. Retrieved from http://content.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=2012449877&S=R&D=ccm&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHX8kSep7Y4zdnyOLCmr0yep69Sr6u4TbOWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPPm5ofj5OeQuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA He, X. Z. (2011). Diabetes care for older patients in America. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 66 (3), 299-304. Retrieved http://content.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=22151535&S=R&D=mdc&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHX8kSep7Y4zdnyOLCmr0yep65Ssa%2B4TLeWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPPm5ofj5OeQuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA Kirkman, S., Briscoe, J., Clark, N., Florez, H., Haas, L., Halter, J., Huang, E., Korytkowski, M., Munshi, M., Odegard, O., Pratley, R., & Carrie, S. (2012). Diabetes in Older Adults: A Consensus Report, Special Article, pp. 2-15. Retrieved from http://www.americangeriatrics.org/files/documents/ADA_Consensus_Report.pdf Mann, D., Ponieman, D., Leventhal, H., & Halm, A. (2009). Predictors of Adherence to diabetes medications: the role of disease and medication beliefs. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 32, 278–284. Retrieved from http://www.sonoma.edu/users/s/shawth/Adherence.pdf Pine, J. (n.d.). Diabetes and Behavior: American Indian Issues. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, Monograph No. 1, pp. 94-115.Retrieved from http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/PublicHealth/research/centers/CAIANH/journal/Documents/Monograph%201/Mono01_Pine_Diabetes_and_Behavior_94-115.pdf Roupa, Ζ., Κoulouri, Α., Sotiropoulou, P., Makrinika, E., Marneras, X., Lahana, Ι., Gourni, Μ. (2009). Anxiety and depression in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, depending on sex and body mass index. Health Science Journal, 3(1), 32-40. Retrieved from http://www.hsj.gr/volume3/issue1/35.pdf Rupal, P., & Mary, B. (2010). Diabetes. Pharmacy Times, 76(10), 28-28. Retrieved from http://content.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=65240164&S=R&D=a9h&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHX8kSep7Y4zdnyOLCmr0yep69Ssai4SbeWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPPm5ofj5OeQuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA Stolar, Mark W., Hoogwerf, Byron, J., Boyle, Patrick, J., Gorshow, Stephen, M., Wales, Dirk O. (2008). Managing Type 2 Diabetes Going Beyond Glycemic Control. Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy, 14(5), 1083–4087. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18597582 Read More