About Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic, debilitating disease affecting every organ system. There are two major types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes (an autoimmune disease also known as juvenile diabetes) and type 2 diabetes (a metabolic disorder also known as adult onset diabetes). In juvenile diabetes, the pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables cells to get energy from food.
Juvenile diabetes usually strikes in childhood but lasts a lifetime. People with juvenile diabetes must take multiple injections of insulin daily or continuous infusion of insulin through a pump just to survive. Those with type 2 produce insulin, but their bodies are unable to use it effectively. Type 2 is usually diagnosed in adulthood and does not always require insulin injections. However, increased obesity has led to a recent “epidemic” in cases of type 2 diabetes in young adults and children under 10 years of age. Taking insulin does not cure any type of diabetes nor prevent the possibility of its eventual and devastating effects: kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack and stroke.
Diabetes impacts millions of children and adults around the world:
- Diabetes kills one American every three minutes.
- About 17 million Americans have the disease; of these 5.9 million remain undiagnosed. In Washington, more than 266,000 residents are estimated to have diabetes.
- Diabetes afflicts 150 million people worldwide, and the World Health Organization estimates that number will more than double by 2025.
- Last year, diabetes accounted for more than $130 billion in health-care costs in the U.S. It accounts for 25 percent of all Medicare expenditures.