Diabetes Mellitus Definition
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition that affects how the body digests food into energy. A diabetes mellitus patient lacks adequate insulin, or their body cannot utilize insulin as it should; their blood sugar consequently goes up, leading to severe health complications. 34.2 million American adults have diabetes mellitus, 20 percent of whom are undiagnosed. The disease is ranked amongst the most frequent mortality causes in the United States.
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Diabetes Mellitus & Kidney Failure
It is also the primary cause of kidney failure and adult blindness, and the number of diabetic patients has doubled over the past 20 years. There are three types of diabetes mellitus, namely type 1, type 2, and gestational. Type 1 diabetes mellitus usually starts in childhood and is caused by the pancreas’ failure to produce adequate insulin and family history, pancreatic diseases, infection, illness, and damage to the pancreas.
Type 2 Diabetes
On the other hand, type 2 occurs when the body cannot utilize the insulin it produces. The causes of this type of diabetes mellitus are obesity, insulin resistance, ethnic background, family history, age, and living a sedentary lifestyle. Lastly is gestational diabetes mellitus during pregnancies, but the risk increases due to obesity, glucose intolerance, age, and ethnic background (Brown et al., 2017).
Diabetes Mellitus Awareness
After watching what the communities featured in Rio Grande Guardian (2018) & Tusaludsicuentatv (2019), it is clear that communities within the United States and Worldwide need to collaborate in increasing the numbers of diabetes tests in order to increase the chances of early diagnosis. Therefore, I propose a project in collaboration with AdventHealth Kissimmee to offer free diabetes testing and conduct a campaign to increase the awareness of diabetes within the Kissimmee community.
Early detection of the disease is essential in ensuring that the patient stays healthy. It reduces the risk of diabetes-related complications like stroke blindness, kidney failure, and limb amputation. This comorbidity reduces self-care chances, something that is a pleasurable goal in diabetes mellitus care (Brown et al., 2017).
Diabetes Mellitus Essay Reference
Brown, J. J., Pribesh, S. L., Baskette, K. G., Vinik, A. I., & Colberg, S. R. (2017). A comparison of screening tools for the early detection of peripheral neuropathy in adults with and without type 2 diabetes. Journal of diabetes research, 2017.
Rio Grande Guardian. (2018). Focus on Diabetes Mellitus [Video]. Retrieved from
Tusaludsicuentatv. (2019). Salud y Vida Champion Elisa Garza [Video].
