UNIVERSITY PARK – About 21 million Americans have diabetes while another 54 million are at risk to develop the disease. As these numbers increase, Diabetes Awareness Month, observed throughout November, is more relevant than ever.
Diabetes, a disease in which the body can’t regulate the amount of sugar in the blood, currently affects about 8 percent of the population, a number that is increasing rapidly. The rate of those with diabetes has doubled in the past 30 years, and 1.5 million new cases are diagnosed each year.
One-third of all babies born in 2000 and 50 percent of African-American girls born today will develop diabetes if the disease isn’t approached differently.
For example, lifestyle changes can prevent diabetes. Risk factors for the disease include obesity and sedentary lifestyle. Family history plays a role and certain ethnicities are at a higher risk. While the cause of diabetes is a mystery, the effects of the disease are not.
It is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and amputations, and it increases the risk of heart disease and stroke by two-to-four times. Diabetes appears to increase the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death with those for diabetes, in women more than it does in men.
For those with diabetes, daily self-management, through appropriate diet, exercise, adherence to medications and blood glucose monitoring, is the key to good health. Yearly eye exams can detect early eye disease; a simple urine test can screen for kidney disease; and a simple foot test can identify patients at risk for foot ulcers and, ultimately, amputations.
Nearly 80 to 90 percent of complications can be avoided by reaching evidence-based goals for blood sugar, LDL cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Despite these well-established goals, only 7 percent of Americans are at goal for all three. Clearly, something has to change — and Penn State Institute for Diabetes and Obesity is working to do just that.
Penn State researchers are evaluating different health-care delivery methods to empower patients to make decisions to improve their health. Researchers don’t believe the patients are bad or the doctors are bad, but that the system as it pertains to diabetes care is broken.
One method researchers are trying is using nurses to help alter patient behaviors in regards to health. By using an innovative technique traditionally used in addiction treatment called motivational interviewing, researchers believe patients will be more inclined to reach their target levels. Researchers are currently conducting a study called “DYNAMIC” to evaluate this technique for patients with Type 2 diabetes. For more information about how to become involved in this and other Penn State studies on Type 1 and/or Type 2 diabetes, check out this Web site or call (800) 393-0782 toll free.
The institute, with the help of an advocacy group comprised of patients, developed an educational tool to help those with diabetes take control. Called the Diabetes Playbook, this football-themed binder is patient-centric, written clearly with relevant information. To request a copy, visit here.
In addition, the institute has created a diabetes registry, a Web-based tool that tracks diabetes patients, for use by health-care providers. This database compiles the information a health-care team needs to help a patient during a visit, including lab results and a trended history of the last six visits. It also provides prompts when additional follow-up care may be recommended.
A statewide Diabetes Action Plan was released in May, outlining a comprehensive program to improve the health of people with diabetes in the Commonwealth. Penn State took a lead in these efforts.
The goal of this plan is to focus efforts towards reducing the burden of diabetes in the state through surveillance of at risk population and trends, and increasing awareness of the importance of early diagnosis management, and prevention.
In addition to this, Penn State is involved in state’s Chronic Care Commission, which also includes insurance companies, employers, individuals with diabetes, community leaders and health-care providers. The focus of this commission is improving chronic care, with diabetes as the hallmark example.