Question:
Discuss about correlation of lifestyle, environment and other factors with changes in levels of wellness?
Answer:
The global health burden is increasing at an alarming rate in recent times and people have been suffering from a number of health complications like hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Diabetes is a health complication that draws much attention in recent times. The present writing is on the health complication of Diabetes. The writing discusses the etiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, complications, diagnostics, the affected health patterns and the correlation of lifestyle, environmental, and other influences with changes in levels of wellness.
Etiology
Diabetes mellitus (DM), also called as only Diabetes, is the set of metabolic disorders that are charecterised by high blood sugar level in the body that persists over a long period of time. Diabetes is caused due to either of two reasons, the pancreas failing to produce insulin in effective amount or the body cells failing to respond to the insulin that is produced. Type 1 diabetes is due the first reason and type 2 diabetes is due tot he second reason. Gestational diabetes occurs when women who are pregnant, having no previous history of diabetes, have high blood-sugar levels (Johnson et al., 2013).
Pathophysiology
Insulin is one of the most important hormones of the body that has the role of regulating the glucose uptake into the cells of the body, like the muscle and liver, from the blood. The lack of insulin and its improper amount, and insensitivity to the receptors are the central part of diabetes mellitus. The glucose is taken from the intestine, the glycogen breakdown and the storage form present in the liver. Insulin gets into the blood by the beta-cells of islets of Langerhans of the pancrease due to the rising level of glucose in the blood. If the amount of the insulin is not sufficient, or if the insulin itself is not effective in functioning, the glucose absorbed is not done adequately by the cells of the body and not stored in the muscles and liver. The total impact occurring is a presistantly high amount of glucose in the blood, poor synthesis of protein, and other complications (Ginter & Simko, 2013).
Clinical manifestations
The main symptoms of the disease are increased urination, weight loss, increased thirst and increased hunger. Symptoms may have a rapid development in type 1 diabetes but in case of type 2 diabetes, it may be a little slower. Long-lasting high level of glucose can lead to absorption of glucose in the eye’s lens, causing the changes in vision. A number of skin rashes may come up as a result of diabetes. Some other significant symptoms mark the onset of the disease. These include headache, blurry vision, fatigue, itchy skin and slow process of healing of cuts (Steul et al., 2014).
Complications
Diabetes leads to the increase of long-term complications. The major complications that are long-term are in relation to an impact on the blood vessels. There are high chances of suffering a cardiovascular disease that includes stroke and some peripheral vascular disease. The main complications as a result of the damage of small blood vessels are the complications of the eyes, nerves and kidney. Other complications include foot complications, ketoacidosis, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and gastroparesis (McCarthy, 2014).
Diagnostics
Diabetes can be diagnosed by A1C criteria and plasma glucose criteria based on the 2-h plasma glucose or fasting plasma glucose value after the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Same tests are done for screening as well as diagnosing diabetes. There is a need to take account of the age, ethnicity, race and anemia while doing the A1C for diagnosing the disease. As per the guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO), people with a fasting glucose level of 6.1 to 6.9 mmol/l are those with impaired fasting glucose. People with plasma glucose at or above 7.8 mmol/l two hours after a 75 g oral glucose load are those with impaired glucose tolerance.
Affected health patterns
Type 1 diabetes may be due to family history, diseases of the pancreas, infections and other illnesses. This kind of diabetes usually has the onset in childhood. Type 2 diabetes usually affects adults. This can be due to obesity, insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, low level of triglycerides and cholesterol, high blood pressure, age and sedentary lifestyle (Stehouwer & Schaper, 2009).
Correlation of lifestyle, environment and other factors with changes in levels of wellness
People with the disease get benefit from proper lifestyle, including healthy food habits, exercise, quitting smoking and drinking, education about proper treatment of the disease. Awareness among people is very much needed for preventing diabetes. Many people are not aware of the different aspects of the disease due to the social environment. Public health departments must take up initiatives to spread knowledge among the common people (Matthews, 2008).
Reference
Ginter, E., & Simko, V. (2013). Type 2 diabetes mellitus, pandemic in 21st century. In Diabetes (pp. 42-50). Springer New York.
Johnson, R., Nakagawa, T., Sanchez-Lozada, L., Shafiu, M., Sundaram, S., & Le, M. et al. (2013). Sugar, Uric Acid, and the Etiology of Diabetes and Obesity. Diabetes, 62(10), 3307-3315. http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/db12-1814
Matthews, D. (2008). Diabetes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McCarthy, M. (2014). Diabetes complication rates fall markedly in the US, says CDC study. BMJ, 348, g2873.
Stehouwer, C., & Schaper, N. (2009). Diabetes. Oxford: Clinical Pub.
Steul, K., Corvers, L., Pohlenz, J., & Kieninger-Baum, D. M. (2014). Manifestation of Diabetes Mellitus Type 1: A Questionnaire to Evaluate the Acceptance of Initial Intravenous Therapy. Journal of Diabetes Mellitus,4(04), 350.
