What is diabetes?

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by high blood sugar (glucose) levels, which due to a defect in insulin secretion, or action, or both. Diabetes, referred to as diabetes (as it will be in this article) was first identified as one of the diseases associated with "sweet urine," and excessive muscle loss in the ancient world. And high levels of glucose in the blood (high blood sugar) leads to the leakage of glucose in the urine, and then the term sweet urine.
Normally, blood glucose levels are tightly controlled by insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas. Insulin reduces the level of sugar in the blood. When high blood glucose (for example, after eating), off insulin from the pancreas to normalize the level of glucose. In patients who suffer from diabetes, and the absence or insufficient production of insulin causes high blood sugar. Diabetes is a chronic disease and medical care, which means that although it can be controlled, they last a lifetime.
What is the impact of diabetes?
Over time, diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage. These types of damage is the result of damage to small vessels, referred to as microvascular disease. Diabetes is also an important factor in accelerating the hardening and narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis), leading to strokes and coronary heart disease and other diseases of large blood vessels. This is referred to the disease macrovascular. Diabetes affects about 17 million people (about 8% of the population) in the United States. In addition, it is estimated that about 12 million more people in the United States have diabetes, and do not even know it.
From an economic perspective, the estimated total annual cost of diabetes in 1997 to 98 billion dollars in the United States. The per capita cost resulting from diabetes in 1997 amounted to $ 10,071.00; while the costs of health care for people without diabetes incurred a per capita cost of $ 2,699.00. During this same year, and attributed 13.9 million days of stay in hospital for diabetes, while 30.3 million physician office visits and diabetes-related. Remember, these figures reflect only the population in the United States. At the global level, the statistics are staggering.