The risk of diabetes is increasing rapidly all over the world. If you also consider it a disease that occurs with age, then be careful, it can happen to anyone from children to the elderly. Often this disease of high blood sugar starts affecting the body in many ways. If it remains uncontrolled, then over time problems can increase for the kidneys, eyes, digestion, and many parts of the body.
Diabetes means that your body is not able to produce enough or no insulin at all or the insulin produced is not being used properly in the body. Health experts say that people who have someone in their family already suffering from diabetes need to take special precautions.
World Diabetes Day is celebrated every year on 14 November with the aim of making people aware of this serious and chronic disease increasing globally and educating people about its prevention. Although type-2 diabetes cases have been seen the most, do you know that there are many other types of diabetes? Let us know how many types of diabetes are there and what measures can be taken to prevent it.
Type-2 Diabetes
Type-2 diabetes has the most patients worldwide. In the year 2021, 536.6 million (53.66 crores) adults worldwide had type-2 diabetes. Experts estimate that by the year 2045, this rate may increase to 783.2 million (78.32 crores).
It begins as insulin resistance. Cases of this type of diabetes are quite common in adults. Researchers found that genetics, sedentary lifestyle, overweight or obesity, and some environmental factors can also increase its risk. Some research suggests that people who are overweight may have more cases of this type of diabetes. If adequate measures are not taken to keep it under control, patients may also need to take insulin injections every day.
Type-1 Diabetes
Type-1 diabetes is also much talked about. It is an autoimmune disease which means that your immune system mistakenly starts destroying the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin hormone. This type of damage is considered permanent. Usually, this problem is diagnosed in childhood itself.
The reasons why type-1 diabetes occurs are not clear, but experts say that, unlike type-2 diabetes, factors like lifestyle disturbances do not play a role in it. Patients of this type may have to take insulin or medicines throughout their lives to keep blood sugar under control.
Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes, as the name suggests, is diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy. Like other types of diabetes, gestational diabetes also affects health in many ways. Due to diabetes during pregnancy, the blood sugar level remains high, which affects the health of both the pregnant woman and the child. Such women have been seen to have a higher risk of developing type-2 diabetes later on.
This is why all women are advised to keep an eye on their sugar levels during pregnancy.
Diabetes 1.5 LADA
While most people know about the above three types of diabetes, diabetes 1.5, also known as LADA, is the least discussed. This is why it often goes undiagnosed in people.
Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) (type 1.5 diabetes) has symptoms of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Its symptoms begin in adulthood and gradually worsen, often leading to a mistaken diagnosis of type 2. Studies show that four to 12% of people who are initially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes may have LADA.
(PC: Freepik)
