Cary Internal Medicine offers a full range of
third is undiagnosed and untreated.)
medical services, including routine physical
•T ype 2 diabetes accounts for 95
and gynecologic examinations. Patients
percent of all diabetes cases.
have in-office access to the latest diagnostic
vascular) complications. Unlike patients with type 1 diabetes, the majority of patients with type 2 do not need insulin to survive.
•A pproximately 20.6 million Americans
tests and treatments, such as: • Cardiovascular risk assessment, using treadmill stress testing,
age 20 and older, or 9.6 percent of the
According
population, have diabetes.
Education Program, heart disease and stroke
•A mong those age 65 and older 10.9
electrocardiograms and lipid profiles; • Pulmonary function testing, using spirometry, and nebulizer treatments; skin tag, wart and mole removal, biopsies and laceration repairs;
the
National
Diabetes
accounted for about 65 percent of deaths in
million, or 26.9 percent are diagnosed
people with diabetes in 2002. Adults with
with diabetes.
diabetes had heart disease death rates two
•O f those younger than 20,
• Minor surgical procedures, such as
to
to four times higher than adults without
approximately 215,000 have diabetes
diabetes. Their risk for stroke also was two to
(type 1 or type 2).
four times higher.
•A bout 79 million Americans over age
• Bone density testing; and
20 (50 percent of adults age 65 and
Obesity and age are major risk factors for
• Vision testing.
older) have pre-diabetes.
diabetes. Abdominal obesity is an indicator of insulin resistance. The abdominal fat is
Medical care is expedited and convenience
Type 1 diabetes can occur at any age, most
thought to prohibit insulin from converting
is enhanced by onsite laboratory services.
commonly in juveniles but also in adults,
sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life.
“Diabetes is, as yet, incurable, but it is manageable with aggressive lifestyle changes and medication. Because diabetes and prediabetes are associated with the myriad health problems that internists treat, helping patients effectively manage diabetes and pre-diabetes to reduce complications has always been central to our practice.” – Prashant Patel, M.D., F.A.C.P.
“The epidemic of obesity in America and our aging population, coupled with lack of awareness, assure the incidence of diabetes will increase,” says Dr. Patel. NDEP estimates the total number of people with diabetes in the United States will be 30.3 million in 2030, which will place the United States third in global prevalence, after India and China. “If recent trends in diabetes and pre-diabetes prevalence rates continue linearly over the next 50 years, future changes in the size and demographic characteristics of the U.S.
State of Diabetes in Nation a Concern
especially in their late 30s and early 40s.
population will lead to dramatic increases
Unlike people with type 2 diabetes, those
in the number of Americans with, or at risk
The statistics for diabetes are grim. Diabetes
with type 1 generally are not obese. The
for, diabetes,” says Dr. Juneja. “The current
– a group of diseases marked by high levels
distinguishing characteristic of a patient with
increase in the number of new cases in
of blood glucose resulting from defects in
type 1 diabetes is that ketosis and eventually
people age 40 to 59 raises the need for
insulin production, insulin action or both –
ketoacidosis develop if insulin is withdrawn.
interventions focused on this segment of the
ranks seventh as the leading cause of death
Therefore, these patients are dependent on
population.”
by disease in the United States. According
exogenous insulin.
to the Centers for Disease Control and
NDEP estimated the cost of diabetes in 2010
Prevention, the risk for death among people
Type 2 diabetes comprises an array of
at $174 billion. The total includes direct
with diabetes is about twice that of people of
dysfunctions resulting from the combination
medical costs ($116 billion) and indirect
similar age who do not have diabetes.
of
and
costs ($58 billion), those associated with
inadequate insulin secretion. Its disorders
loss of work, disability and premature
are
hyperglycemia
death. After adjusting for population age
• Diabetes affects 25.8 million people in
and associated with microvascular (i.e.,
and gender differences, the average medical
the United States, or 8.3 percent of the
retinal, renal, possibly neuropathic) and
expenditures among people with diagnosed
population. (Of that total, about one-
macrovascular (i.e., coronary, peripheral
diabetes were 2.3 times higher than what
Its 2011 fact sheet also reports:
resistance
to
characterized
insulin by
action
October 2011
7