Comprehensive Diabetes management

The evaluation and monitoring of diabetes patients should include measuring metabolic control and the early detection of complications related to diabetes. However, less than 50 percent of patients undergo an evaluation according to this schedule.

Patients may also need to go through a review regarding their smoking status, as the doctor may suggest them to stop smoking. High-risk patients are people with multiple risk factors, particularly smoking, obesity, poor glycaemic, dyslipidaemia, and blood pressure (BP).

Diabetes can pose a major cardiovascular (CVD) risk factor. Patients with diabetes are 2–4 times likely to suffer from a stroke or cardiac infarction. Nearly 65 percent of people with diabetes die from CVD. On top of it, without proper diabetes management, this disease may shorten patients’ life expectancy by up to 15 years.

Another risk factor of diabetes is having a microvascular disease. Patients with known type 2 diabetes and more than 45 years old in the AusDiab study:

• 22 percent is suffering from retinopathy;
• 19.1 percent have the risk of a foot ulcer;
• 7 percent has a visual impairment;
• 6 percent is suffering from renal disease;
• 9 percent have visible clinical signs of neuropathy.

In Australia, the number of diabetes patients is 2–4 times more among aboriginal people. Nearly 53 percent of Aboriginal people and Torres Straits Islanders with diabetes have cardiovascular, and 10 percent have renal disease.

Learning about Diabetes Management

• Learn the underlying cause of diabetes is and the ways to manage it.
• Learn how different foods affect your glucose level and how to eat healthily.
• Learn about the benefits of physical activity and make it an integral part of your life.
• Learn about the medications.
• Learn how to monitor your blood glucose.
• Learn how to keep off complications.