Team:NCKU Tainan/Project
Diabetes mellitus, also known as diabetes, is a metabolic diseases in which blood sugar levels cannot be regulated properly. If left untreated, diabetes can lead to many complications including heart disease, chronic kidney failure, or even death.
Diabetes is usually classified into two types: type1 and type2.
- Type1 diabetes- body's immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin, leading to insulin deficiency. The majority of these diabetes cases were in children.
- Type2 diabetes- which is characterized by insulin resistance, and sometimes may combine with relatively reduced insulin secretion.
Type 2 diabetes is far more common than type 1. Overall, around 90% of all adults with diabetes have type 2.
The figure describes which age groups in the population have the highest proportions of diabetes. The dotted line is the distribution of diabetes prevalence by age for the world; the black line is the distribution for the region; and the country distribution is plotted in the red line. Many middle- and low-income countries have more people under the age of 60 with diabetes compared to the world average. Meanwhile, for high-income countries, a growing population over the age of 60 makes up the largest proportion of diabetes prevalence.
Before having diabetes, many people may have blood sugar levels above the normal range, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as having diabetes.This is known as “pre-diabetes”. If the blood sugar level is above the normal range, the risk of developing full-blown diabetes would increase drastically. It's crucial for diabetes to be diagnosed as early as possible, due to multiple possible complications if left untreated. However, diagnosing pre-diabetes is not yet a prevalent concept in Taiwan nor in other part of the world. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the prevalence of pre-diabetes is increasing worldwide and it is projected that more than 470 million people will have pre-diabetes in 2030.
