Diabetes Risk Test
Here is link to a 60-Second Type 2 Diabetes Risk Test from the American Diabetes Association.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic (long-lasting) disease that affects how your body turns food into energy. There are three main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes (diabetes while pregnant). According to US CDC, “more than 122 million Americans are living with diabetes (34.2 million) or prediabetes (88 million)”.
Bahrain’s Health Minister Faeqa bint Said Al-Saleh said, in November 2020, that the world is witnessing a steady increase in the incidence of non-communicable chronic diseases, including diabetes, noting that in Bahrain, the National Health Survey indicated that about 15% of those surveyed have diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes
If you have Type 1 diabetes, your pancreas doesn’t make insulin or makes very little insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps blood sugar enter the cells in your body where it can be used for energy. Without insulin, blood sugar can’t get into cells and builds up in the bloodstream. High blood sugar is damaging to the body and causes many of the symptoms and complications of diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes (previously called insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes) is usually diagnosed in children, teens, and young adults, but it can develop at any age.
Type 1 diabetes is less common than Type 2—approximately 5-10% of people with diabetes have Type 1.
Currently, no one knows how to prevent Type 1 diabetes, but it can be managed by following your doctor’s recommendations for living a healthy lifestyle, managing your blood sugar, getting regular health checkups, and getting diabetes self-management education and support.
For more information, you can visit the US CDC Website)
Type 2 Diabetes
More than 34 million Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people over age 45, but more and more children, teens, and young adults are also developing it.
What Causes Type 2 Diabetes?
Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that acts like a key to let blood sugar into the cells in your body for use as energy. If you have type 2 diabetes, cells don’t respond normally to insulin; this is called insulin resistance. Your pancreas makes more insulin to try to get cells to respond. Eventually your pancreas can’t keep up, and your blood sugar rises, setting the stage for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. High blood sugar is damaging to the body and can cause other serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.
Type 2 Diabetes – Symptoms and Risk Factors
Type 2 diabetes symptoms often develop over several years and can go on for a long time without being noticed (sometimes there aren’t any noticeable symptoms at all). Because symptoms can be hard to spot, it’s important to know the risk factors and to see your doctor to get your blood sugar tested if you have any of them (More information can be had from CDC website)
Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes develops in pregnant women who have never had diabetes.
If you have gestational diabetes, your baby could be at higher risk for health problems. Gestational diabetes usually goes away after your baby is born but increases your risk for type 2 diabetes later in life. Your baby is more likely to have obesity as a child or teen, and more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life too.
Click here for the 60-Second Type 2 Diabetes Risk Test from the American Diabetes Association.