Precautions to Diabetes - Research Paper Example

?Introduction Diabetes is a condition or disease that affects many young and adult people globally, this condition makes the patient’s body by makingit unable to produce insulin. Diabetes is a very deadly disease that if it not detected early it could be fatal to its victims. Diabetes exhibits itself in the body in various forms or types and it causes high blood glucose levels in the body due to inability to produce or successfully use insulin. As a precaution doctors have come up with several diagnostic tools to be used in detecting diabetes in the body. The A1C Diagnostic Tool The testing of diabetes has long been faced with a myriad of challenges that include insufficient diagnosis of the disease. Several diabetes diagnostic tests have been developed over the years but all of them are not accurate as the Haemoglobin A1C level test. The A1C test is undertaken to test the amount of sugar present in the red blood cells. The test looks into the average blood glucose levels in patient’s body for a period of two to three months. The A1C test uses an averaging system whereby a patient’s blood glucose levels are tested based on a percentage system (Cunha-vaz, 2011). Diabetes tests conducted using the A1C diagnostic testing tools have been very accurate in estimating blood sugar levels of a patient over a long period of time. Compared to other tests, the A1C test does not require a patient to fast without food for periods of time since the test can be conducted at any time (Ford-Martin, 2004). A1C Research Tests A research was conducted to test the effectiveness of the A1C diagnosis test in South Korea over a period of 6 years. The test was conducted to find out the best levels for haemoglobin A1C level for different diabetes patients this included patients belonging to different races. The research targeted a total of 10,038 participants were included in this research and they first underwent a 75-g oral glucose test tolerance test at baseline with two year follow up. Among the research participants, 572 of them had a previous history of having diabetes (Ford-Martin, 2004). From the results a receiver operating characteristic curve was used to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of the A1C cut-off. The results established that at the baseline 635 participants representing 6.8% had previously undiagnosed diabetes. An A1C cut-off of 5.9% produced the highest sum of sensitivity at 68% and specificity (91%). At the end of the research, after 6 years 895 (10.2%) participants had developed diabetes. An A1C cut-off of 5.6% had the highest sum of sensitivity (59%) and specificity (77%) in the identification of consequent 6-year incident diabetes. After variations in adjustment it was found that men with A1C baseline of 5.6% had a 2.4 fold increased risk while women with the same baseline had a 3.1 fold increased risk of contracting diabetes in the future (Cunha-vaz, 2011). The research study was successful in concluding that patients with a 5.9% A1C cut-off identified participants with undiagnosed diabetes. The study also concluded that people with A1C equal or greater than 5.6% had increased risk of contracting diabetes in the future. Integration of A1C The research study undertaken by researchers on the agreed levels of Haemoglobin A1C test was important in determining the agreed levels of A1C suitable for diagnosing diabetes. From the research we are able to learn that doctors have found out that people with Haemoglobin A1C level of ? 5.6% have a higher risk of contracting diabetes. Due to the accuracy of using the A1C diagnosis testing, Doctors are now able to easily detect diabetes in the body. Many researchers agree that the A1C test and research was important in coming up with a standardised A1C cut-off which was put at the level of 6.5%. The results of the South Korean research concluded that the A1C levels of 5.9% contributed to patients contracting type 2 diabetes (Cunha-vaz, 2011). While on the other hand, the same study was conducted among the Japanese population and they found out that an A1C cut-off of 5.6% identified undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. From several other research conducted it was found out that the A1C diagnosis tests were successful in predicting Type 2 diabetes. The research study conducted on the South Koreans was very conclusive based on the detailed research undertaken over a period of six years. As a result, the A1C test has been globally accepted in the diagnosis of diabetes to the accuracy of using this test (Ford-Martin, 2004). A1C impact on Nursing The Haemoglobin A1C test has completely changed the diagnosis of diabetes, since it has made the diagnosis of diabetes quick and easy. The use of the A1C diagnosis testing has enabled the declaration of the A1C as the independent predictor of incident diabetes. Doctors and medical practitioners globally have adopted the use of the A1C diagnosis test as the standardised test in diagnosing diabetes. The use of A1C diagnosis test has enabled doctors to easily diagnose and prevent the prevalence of diabetes in the society. Using the A1C diagnosis test it is easy to diagnose the different types of diabetes within a short period of time using the different A1C level measures (Ford-Martin, 2004). The A1C diagnosis test has an advantage over other test since it can test a patient blood sugar level over a course of the past three months. As a result, the A1C diagnosis has lowered the costs in conducting diabetes diagnosis while at the same time reducing the number of diagnosis visits to the doctor. The A1C diagnosis testing has also been used in the medical field to warn patients of their blood sugar levels for people who could easily contract diabetes. Conclusion The diagnosis of diabetes is very important, this is because the condition is not curable thus preventive measures are necessary. Several diagnosis test are used in testing for diabetes, however the discovery of the A1C diagnosis test has changed all this. The A1C test has lessened the task of diabetes diagnosis and improved accuracy in the undertaking diabetes diagnosis. Doctors and researchers have recommended the use of A1C test in the diagnosis of diabetes and thus this revolutionary test should gain acceptance in the medical field. References Cunha-vaz, J. (2011). Diabetic Retinopathy. Chicago, IL: World Scientific. Ford-Martin, P. & Blumer, I. (2004). The everything diabetes book: from diagnosis and diet to insulin and exercise, all you need to live a healthy, active life. New York, NY: Everything Books. Read More