Diabetes The Common Chronic Disorders - 1737 Words

1.0 INTRODUCTION: Diabetes is one of the most common chronic disorders in UK [1]. According to Silverman, more than 2.6 million people in UK are diabetic as according to data collected from GP practices and more than 5 million obese people are registered to GP practices. So One in ten people are getting treatment for obesity and one in 20 are getting treatment for diabetes [2]. It is estimated that more than 5% men and more than 4% women in England are found to have diagnosed diabetes. While, 3% men and 1.5% women over 35 years old are having undiagnosed diabetes [3]. In England, more than 20,000 people under the age of 17 have diabetes. About 97 percent are found to have Type 1 diabetes; 1.5 percent has Type 2, and 1.5 per cent has†¦show more content†¦The prevalence of diabetes was found to be increased rapidly with age as the prevalence was found to be 0.3 in people aged 0–29, 3.3 in those 30–59 and 14% in people over 60 year’s age [5]. Diabetes complications affect many organs and systems in the body including the kidneys, heart, eyes, blood vessels, and nerves. However, the diabetes complication that results in cardiovascular disease leads to the most premature deaths. Diabetes is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease in non-smokers and second only to smoking in causing cardiovascular disease in smokers in the UK (BMA, 2004). 80% of all diabetic people or 2.4 million people in the UK are at risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. Diabetes is a disproportionately expensive chronic illness that requires long-term medical attention to limit the development of its complications and to manage these complications when they occur. It is estimated that the cost of healthcare for people with diabetes is $13,243 compared with $2,560 for people without diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2007). Today, ten percent of all hospital admissions are due to diabetes and includes about 30% of cardiovascular admissions (National Diabetes Support Team, 2005). Cardiovascular disease includes any disease of the heart and blood vessels such as coronary heart disease (CHD), peripheral vascular disease and stroke. CHD remains the number one cause of death in the UK