Gathering Places
Gathering Places
Think about this: You could have diabetes and not know it. Undetected, this disease could be damaging your heart, kidneys, eyes, feet and sexual organs. You might have had this disease for years and not known it because you didn't have symptoms. Diabetes kills
by stealthThe federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Diabetes Control Program estimate that more than 80,000 residents of Hawaii have diabetes. More than half don't know it, according to statistical analyses and studies of medical records of people who turn up with the disease later. Asian Americans, Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are at greater risk for contracting the disease than members of other ethnic groups.
While diabetes is a serious disease, it can be managed if diagnosed. Each year, the American Diabetes Association designates one day to "Sound the Alert" and encourage people to find out if they are at risk for diabetes. Today is the day for 2001.
There are two main types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2. A person with Type 1 diabetes has a pancreas that makes little or no insulin and therefore must inject insulin every day. Type 2 diabetes, the more common form, occurs when the pancreas keeps making insulin but the body doesn't use it well. The American Diabetes Association estimates that 90 percent of people in the United States with diabetes have Type 2.
Type 2 diabetes is even more common in Hawaii, accounting for 95 percent of the cases. Most people with Type 2 are diagnosed after age 30 or 40. This type of diabetes is often asymptomatic, meaning that no symptoms show up.
In fact, many newly diagnosed patients are estimated to have had the disease for seven to 10 years. A person is at even greater risk if he or she is 45 or older, is overweight, has high blood pressure, or has a family history of the disease.
Diabetes costs a lot. The diabetes association calculates that diabetes-related expenditures in the United States were $98 billion in 1997, the latest year for which data are available. People with diabetes have health-care costs almost four times greater than those without the disease. If the disease is diagnosed early, however, the cost to treat it can be reduced.
In Hawaii, the state Legislature passed a bill last year requiring health plans to cover outpatient diabetes self-management, training, education, equipment and supplies. Today, Hawaii Medical Service Association helps 33,000 members to manage their diabetes. The focus is on prevention, medical intervention and self-management. But we are concerned about the 40,000 people who don't know they have diabetes.
Diabetes is no joke but if you know you have it, you're ahead of the game. And it can be controlled through exercise, medication, and monitoring. If you think you are at risk, talk with your health professional.
Rick Chung, M.D., is a vice president of the
Hawaii Medical Service Association. Laurie Tom,
M.D., is president of the American Diabetes
Association, Pacific Northwest Region.