Diabetes: Overview

Affecting 400+ million people globally, diabetes is a leading disorder that results in excess availability of glucose in the blood of the patient. Depending on the severity, diabetes management includes oral medications or insulin therapy, followed by adopting a healthy lifestyle to better manage the glucose levels.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes results from high and uncontrolled levels of blood glucose levels, which either result from an autoimmune complication (type-1 diabetes) or lifestyle disorder (type-2 diabetes).

The cells in the body of diabetic patients are unable to absorb and utilize the available glucose, leading to its abundance in the bloodstream.

What Are the Different Types of Diabetes?

Following are the primary types of diabetes known:

Type-1 diabetes – It is insulin-dependent diabetes and an autoimmune disorder where the pancreas doesn’t secrete enough insulin in the blood.

Type-2 diabetes – It is insulin-independent diabetes where the available insulin isn’t optimally utilized by the cells in the body, leading to high glucose levels.

Prediabetes – It is a precursor stage to type-2 diabetes, where the blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be considered diabetes.

Gestational diabetes – It is the type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy, later imposing a heightened risk of developing type-2 diabetes in the mother after delivery.

How common is diabetes?

According to reports from the World Health Organization, 463+ million people globally are diagnosed with diabetes. This accounts for 9.3% of the world’s adult population. Also, the estimations suggest that the numbers will increase to 578 million by 2045.

Who Gets Diabetes?

Diabetes isn’t a selective disease and can affect anyone. However, there are certain risk factors that enhance an individual’s susceptibility to the disease.