Diabetes affects millions of Americans, with approximately 10 percent of the population having Type 1 or Type 2. What’s more, millions go undiagnosed even though the risk factors are clear.
Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed early in life and means the body doesn’t make insulin and the patient needs to take it on a daily basis. Type 2 is usually discovered later in life, and although the body does make insulin, it doesn’t regulate or produce it as well as it should. This is the type most commonly seen in American patients.
To see if you are at risk for Type 2 Methodistic health system has developed a user-friendly assessment tool. By answering a few questions quickly – it takes about seven minutes – you will receive personalized, confidential information about your risk profile and the next steps.
Factors that lead to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes include:
- Age: The risk increases with age and occurs most often after the age of 45. However, doctors are finding more and more children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes so it’s never too early to check.
- Ethnicity: Type 2 diabetes is more common among African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific islanders.
- Body weight: About half of men and 70 percent of women with diabetes are obese. If you are 20 percent or more over your ideal body weight, you are at greater risk than normal.
- Lifestyle factors: Whether you smoke or not, your activity level and untreated high blood pressure can affect your chances of developing type 2 diabetes.
- Family history: Type 2 diabetes occurs in families both ecologically and genetically.
The long-term effects of diabetes can be severe. The sooner they are recognized, the better. High blood sugar or hyperglycemia causes fatigue and can also weaken the immune system.
Dr. Michael Foster, pulmonologist at the Methodist Richardson Health Center, puts it this way: “… hyperglycemia will make the body more susceptible to vascular and cellular damage.”
The patient often has other medical problems that complicate the situation, such as atherosclerosis, obesity, and high blood pressure. If diabetes is not activated, diabetes can cause eye problems, dental problems, nerve damage, hearing problems, and more.
Those simple seven minutes to take the test seem pretty important now, don’t they?
