Introduction
Diabetes mellitus exists in two main forms, type I and type II. If the patient does not receive timely and effective treatment, the disease may lead to numerous complications (Alva, Gray, Mihaylova, Leal, & Holman, 2015). In the US alone, the economic cost of diabetes is around 240 billion dollars each year. Researchers assert that the United States loses nearly 60 billion each year due to loss of income attributable to days not worked, limited activities, reduced productivity, death, and disability emanating from diabetes to patients and their carers. Governments in poor nations ought to apply interventions that support in establishing valuable and inexpensive care for diabetes.
Diabetes
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, denotes a group of metabolic illnesses that result in the patient having high blood sugar. Diabetes occurs in two major forms that include type I, in which the immune system in the body invades and devastates insulin-producing cells and type II, where the body is not in a position of producing sufficient insulin, or the cells do not respond to insulin. The most common form of diabetes is type II. The main symptoms of diabetes encompass regular urination and an increase in hunger and thirst. Preventing and treating diabetes entails the maintenance of a healthy diet, increased physical activity, ensuring ideal weight, and avoidance of tobacco use (Alva et al., 2015). While type I diabetes is managed with insulin injection, type II is treated with medicines even with no insulin.
Morbidity and Comorbidity of Diabetes
Studies indicate that about 29 million residents of the US, or 9% of the population, have diabetes, which includes approximately one million children and grownups having type I diabetes (Leung, Carlsson, Colditz, & Chang, 2015). Out of the listed 29 million people, 21 million of them were diagnosed whereas 8 million were not. The fraction of US residents of 65 years of age and older having diabetes is high, at about 26% or 12 million seniors. Moreover, roughly 1.5 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each year. In 2013, 85 million US residents of 20 years of age and above had prediabetes, which is an increase of 7 million from the 2011 figure. Diabetes acts as the seventh biggest cause of death in the US, with about 69,000 deaths attributed directly to the disease and approximately 234,000 cases reporting it as a causal factor.
Comorbidity, denoted as the existence of a single or numerous chronic situations in an individual having an index-illness, happens normally amid diabetes patients (Leung et al., 2015). Some of the most common comorbidities associated with diabetes encompass eye diseases, diabetic foot, nephropathy, and cardiovascular illnesses. Nonetheless, people with diabetes do not just experience diabetes-associated comorbidities but as well have others that are not related to diabetes, for instance, depression and musculoskeletal illnesses. Both children and teenagers having type II diabetes are at risk for comorbidities that include high blood pressure (with related modifications in cardiac formation), liver illnesses, and dyslipidemia. People with type II diabetes, particularly the ones having poor glycemic control, dyslipidemia, and high blood pressure are vulnerable to experiencing vascular problems.
Attributable to the rising population of the elderly in the Western nations, it is not just the number of people having diabetes that is anticipated to rise, but also the level of the patients having diabetes-linked comorbidities (Leung et al., 2015). This signifies that the single disease treatment method is not suitable for most patients having diabetes. Comorbidity among patients having diabetes is linked to significant outcomes for medical care and associated outlays. Comorbidity has been seen to strengthen clinical care utilization and raise health care expenses for diabetes patients. Diabetes coupled with the arising comorbidities has been seen to raise the risk of the patient’s death twofold. From 2013 to 2015, there have been about 1.5 million to five million deaths associated with diabetes each year in the US.
Impact of Diabetes and Patient Morbidity and the Affect to Overall Health of Nation
The international economic impact of diabetes and patient morbidity has been approximated to be 610 billion dollars every year (Koh, Blakey, & Roper, 2014). There is a considerable discrepancy in medical care expenses on diabetes amid dissimilar areas and nations around the world. Over 80% of international expenses on diabetes arise in developed nations; for instance, the cost of diabetes in the Caribbean area and North America is about 210 billion dollars, almost 60% of the international total outlay. On the contrary, Africa spends about 1.5 billion dollars on diabetes-related treatment, about 0.5% of the worldwide total expenses.
India, the nation that has the biggest population of diabetes patients, spends around 3 billion dollars, below 1% of the international total, every year. Diabetes also results in a huge monetary burden on the patients and their family members. The extent of such a burden relies on the family’s monetary situation, as well as the social insurance strategies of the nations where the patients live. People with diabetes in developing nations have huge expenses attributable to the poorly structured medical systems and insurance policies. In developed nations, patients cater for about 40% of medical expenses while people with diabetes in poor countries bear nearly the entire cost of treatment (Leung et al., 2015).
Another effect of diabetes is that it results in lost productivity, death, and economic deterioration of a nation. The impact of such losses is possibly felt intensely in poor nations since premature deaths affect people at very young ages (Koh et al., 2014). A tremendous impact of diabetes is the fiscal aspect related to death and disability attributable to the illnesses, in addition to the associated comorbidities, for instance, kidney, coronary, and foot sicknesses, as well as retinopathy. Economists employ dissimilar techniques to measure the impact of disability and death related to diabetes. Luckily, it has been established that the monetary burden of diabetes may be lessened through the execution of numerous cheap, easy-to-employ interventions and many of them are cost-saving. The governments in poor nations ought to implement such interventions to assist in establishing effective and affordable care for diabetes.
Healthy People 2020 goals and objectives for Diabetes
Healthy People 2020 goals encompass the reduction of diabetes and its monetary burden coupled with the enhancement of the quality of life of individuals who are at a danger of developing the disease (Koh et al., 2014). The objectives include making efforts to enhance diagnosis, avoidance, and measurement of medical pointers of care and giving special consideration to the significance of diabetes patients obtaining formal diabetes edification. To realize the goals of reducing the disease and its impact, Healthy People 2020 endeavors that tackle prevention inequities and present and historical unfairness will necessitate intensive approaches that involve the whole society, individual-centered interventions, and legislative schemes.
Conclusion
Diabetes signifies a group of metabolic illnesses that lead to patients having high blood sugar. The worldwide fiscal impact of diabetes and patient morbidity has been estimated to be 610 billion dollars per year. Governments in poor nations should lobby for resources from developed economies to deliver inexpensively and quality care to diabetes patients, which will go a long way to boosting the overall health and economy of the countries.
References
Alva, M. L., Gray, A., Mihaylova, B., Leal, J., & Holman, R. R. (2015). The impact of diabetes‐related complications on healthcare costs: New results from the UKPDS (UKPDS 84). Diabetic Medicine, 32(4), 459-466.
Koh, H. K., Blakey, C. R., & Roper, A. Y. (2014). Healthy People 2020: A report card on the health of the nation. JAMA, 311(24), 2475-2476.
Leung, M. Y., Carlsson, N. P., Colditz, G. A., & Chang, S. (2015). Risk of diabetes with or without the presence of other obesity-related comorbidities (hypertension, stroke and coronary heart disease): National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2007-2010. Value in Health, 18(3), 151.