What and Why is Diabetes?
Nowadays Diabetes is one of the leading medico-social problems. Millions of people all around the world suffer from this stubborn disease. Percentage wise, sick patients represent 2-3% of the world population. Diabetes occupies the 3-rd place after cardiovascular and oncological diseases. Men and women are exposed to this illness in an almost equal degree but there is an interesting distribution of patients based on their race belonging. People of Negroid race and those who belong to American Indians suffer from diabetes three times more often than people of European populations!! The reason for diabetes development is the combination of hereditary predisposition with exogenous risk factors.
The risk factors that cause hereditary inferiority are overeating and dessert abuse that bring to obesity, sudden or irreducible stress effects and neurasthenia, virus infections, elderly age, strong atherosclerosis. All the named factors may be the underlying cause of diabetes development without hereditary predisposition.
Diabetes is a syndrome characterized by disordered metabolism caused by deficiency of hormone insulin or abnormality of its interaction with body cells. These bring to an increase of sugar (glucose) concentration in blood that is called hyperglycemia.
The classification of diabetes divides it into following types:
· type 1 diabetes;
· type 2 diabetes;
· less frequent - gestational diabetes.
The situation when endocrine cells of pancreas produce little insulin serves as a basis for the development of type 1 diabetes. This process is conditioned by destruction of cells because of some pathogenic factors influence. This type of diabetes makes up 10-15% of all diabetes cases. It mostly develops in childhood and adolescence. The basic cure is insulin injections that normalize metabolism combined with constant monitoring of blood glucose level. Ignoring type 1 diabetes may lead to serious complications and sometimes even death!!
Type 2 diabetes is caused by a somewhat decreased susceptibility of tissue to insulin affect. On initial stage of disease insulin is synthesized in normal or even increased quantities. In the course of time the need of injections pops up as the production of insulin by pancreas drops down. Diets and weigh loss may sometimes help to normalize carbohydrate metabolism. Those methods may re-establish proper sensitivity to insulin. 85-90% of patients suffer from type 2 diabetes and most of them are older than 40 years.
Usually type 2 diabetes is associated with obesity and if not treated can lead to to eye, heart and kidney maladies.
Gestational diabetes is sometimes observed during pregnancy and has the property to vanish or alleviate after delivery. Mechanisms of gestational diabetes are similar to those of type 2 diabetes. Frequency of this diabetes type genesis is about 2-5% among expectant mothers. It may be damaging to both the child’s and the mother’s health. Children born in women with diabetes suffer from excessive weight, sometimes they have deformities or malformations. Women who suffered from diabetes during pregnancy are under the risk of falling ill after childbirth.
The symptoms of diabetes are increased thirst, frequent urination, skin itch and increased appetite. Patients of type 1 diabetes may lose weight rapidly despite of overeating; both types are accompanied by increasing fatigue.
People should know! Diabetes requires permanent attention!!
It is better to treat it from the very beginning and prevent complications than cure serious maladies caused by self-carelessness.