Disease Research

The ten leading causes of death in the United States of America as of 2005 are heart diseases, malignant neoplasm, cerebrovascular disease, chronic lower respiratory disease, unintentional disease, diabetes mellitus, influenza and pneumonia, Alzheimer’s disease, nephritis and nephrosis, septicemia, intentional self-harm. I preferred diabetes mellitus because I think this kind of disease should be given much emphasis and attention from the government. Diabetes mellitus is a type of disease in the pancreatic area.

In this disease, the pancreas does not properly generate insulin. When the body cannot generate enough insulin, hyperglycemia and other related disorders will occur in our metabolism. Diabetes can cause harm in other body organs when complications will arise. First of all, it causes damage to the kidneys which are responsible for the absorption of waste products in our body. Damaged kidneys then causes the end stage renal disease in which the kidneys are destroyed mutely. This then causes the nephrons to worsen which leads to other diseases such as hepatitis to arise.

When this happens, the person now has two or more diseases to worry about. Today, it is estimated that 20. 8 million Americans suffer from diabetes. Out of this 20. 8 million Americans, 6. 2 million are undiagnosed. When diabetes goes unnoticed, prevention and early treatment would be impossible. If diabetes is not treated properly, it will then lead to life-threatening complications as mentioned earlier. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the disease will rise to more than 50% in the next 10 years if ignored.

According to the United States National Diabetes Fact Sheet 2005, “Overall, the risk for death among people with diabetes is about twice that of people without diabetes of similar age. ” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention & American Diabetes Association, 2005) One major cause of diabetes is an individual’s diet. Since in the United States most follow the “Western-style” diet in which almost everything is sweet (having lots of sugar in it), it is suggested that people should watch their diet more. However, there is little understanding of the mechanisms in diabetes at present.

Unwatched diet may cause obesity which then causes some organs to become larger and cannot function properly (Giurini, Cook, & Cook, 2007). Thus, the government must pay their attention on funding research on diabetes because first, more than 20 million people in the US suffer diabetes at present and will increase in the next 10 years; second; most people do not know that they have diabetes; and third, diabetes causes complications and even death when not treated properly and continued unnoticed. People should be well-informed about diabetes so that they will know how to diagnose, prevent, and treat diabetes.

 Reference:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, & American Diabetes Association. (2005). United States National Diabetes Fact Sheet. Retrieved. from.

Giurini, J. M., Cook, E. A., & Cook, J. J. (2007). Diabetes: the latest trends in glycemic control. Clin Podiatr Med Surg, 24(2), 159-189.