Are you at risk for diabetes? Although there is no specific cause of diabetes (type 2 diabetes), there are some risk factors. Some risk factors are controllable, while others are congenital.
In the Philippines, it was estimated that about 4.3 million Filipinos had been diagnosed with diabetes. This is equivalent to 1 out of 14 adults being diagnosed with diabetes.
However, up to 69.9% of people do not know they have the disease and 85% of people only detect the disease when they have complications: cardiovascular, kidney or neurological failure…
80% of diabetics die from cardiovascular complications. In addition, they are 2-4 times more likely to have a cerebrovascular accident than normal people. Up to 20% of people with diabetes have kidney disease, which causes kidney failure, and may require hemodialysis or a kidney transplant.
Diabetes Knowledge has developed a survey that calculates the risk of disease based on a type 2 diabetes risk test. This is a simple and easy way to assess your risk of developing type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.
1. Are you at risk for diabetes?
Diabetes can occur in any 1 subject. This group of risk factors can be customized according to the type of diabetes, but 1 typical group can be mentioned as follows:
– Patients with hypertension ( >140/90 mmHg).
– People who are inactive and obese.
– Adults aged 40 years and older.
– Have a family member with diabetes.
– People with a history of gestational diabetes.
– People with cholesterol and triglyceride disorders.
– Women with polycystic ovaries.
– Black, Hispanic or Asian.
Accurately and fully understanding the risk factors is what you should do. This will help you prevent and diagnose and treat diseases early. When you treat it in time, you will avoid dangerous complications, live with the disease happily.
2. What genetic factors influence diabetes risk?
No studies have shown the exact cause of type 1 diabetes. A family history of type 1 diabetes is a risk factor.
If you have type 1 diabetes, you will have a 1/17 risk of type 1 diabetes. But if you have type 1 diabetes, the odds of your child getting sick are 1 in 25 (when you are not yet 25 years old). And mothers who give birth at the age of over 25 have a 1 in 100 chance that their children will also get sick.
A parent with type 2 diabetes will also increase the risk of diabetes in children. Because diabetes is usually related to lifestyle, when parents have bad life habits, it will negatively affect their children. This problem will increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.
When a child has both parents with type 2 diabetes, there is a 1/2 risk. Children whose parents have type 2 diabetes diagnosed before age 50 have a 1/7 risk of developing diabetes.
Women are at risk of gestational diabetes if 1 family member has diabetes.
3. Environment affects diabetes risk
If infected with virus A (unknown type) as a child, it can cause type 1 diabetes in some people. In addition, you are also more likely to develop type 1 diabetes if you live in a cold climate. As a result, the percentage of patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in winter is usually higher than in summer.
4. Do lifestyle habits affect diabetes risk?
Type 1 diabetes may be related to daily nutrition. Children who do not drink breast milk or infants who eat raw food early are at increased risk of diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is usually caused by lifestyle habits:
–Obesity
– Not being physically active
–Smoke
– Unhealthy diet
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, obesity is the biggest risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
5. What diseases affect the risk of diabetes?
Your risk of developing type 2 diabetes is higher if you have 1 of the following conditions:
– With black thorn disease, a skin disease that will make the skin look duller than usual
– Having high blood pressure above 140/90 mmHg
– High cholesterol
– Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
Prediabetes or blood sugar levels that are higher than normal, but not at the diabetes level
– Triglyceride levels of 250 or more
– Women with diabetes during pregnancy give birth to babies weighing about 3kg6 or more, children are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
6. How does age impact diabetes risk?
Are you at risk for diabetes? You are likely to develop diabetes in your old age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults over the age of 45 be screened for diabetes, especially if you are overweight.
7. How do misconceptions affect diabetes risk?
Some people believe that vaccines can cause diabetes. But in fact there is no scientific evidence to explain this.
8. Long-term complications
In people with diabetes, insulin is not used effectively, causing the amount of blood glucose in the body to increase significantly. In the long run, this disorder causes both immediate and chronic complications, which are harmful to the health and life of the patient.
Unhealthy lifestyle and subjective psychology with diabetes mellitus (diabetes) will cause you to face complications such as:
– Cardiovascular diseases: Including myocardial infarction or angina with coronary artery disease.
– Complications of nerve damage: Having a stroke, losing sensation in the leg, Alzheimer’s dementia
– Eye complications: Permanent blindness, glaucoma, cataracts.
– Complications in the kidneys: Acute renal failure, Chronic kidney disease, edema in the legs.
Currently, Philippine medicine still does not have a way to treat diabetes completely. Therefore, patients need to have proper nutrition and rest to limit the harmful effects of the disease to the lowest level. Signs of illness can be limited with medication, but it is important that patients are self-aware of the importance of health and have a proper diet, exercise, and rest.