Research and studies

Diabetes is rapidly emerging as a major health-care problem in India, especially in urban areas where the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes has been reported as 12% of the adult population. Furthermore, there is an equally large pool of people with

Kyrgyzstan is a small mountainous country with a predominantly agricultural economy; it gained independence with the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. For a significant sector of the Kyrgyzstani population, economic difficulties at national level translate into high unemployment and widespread impoverishment. Kyrgyzstan inherited an extensive but basic health-care system, with a functioning – albeit fragmented – structure for managing chronic diseases.

When we eat, the concentration of glucose in our blood rises due to the uptake of glucose from the digestion of starch and other carbohydrates in the gut. In healthy people, the increase is modest; eating activates other processes that

As a species, our condition has changed: from prolonged periods of fasting and occasional gorging, to nearly constant feeding with rarely occurring periods of fasting. The constant availability of ‘grazing opportunities’ has contributed to a change in the body build of humans towards increasing body weight, overweight, and obesity. With this change has come a massive increase in the number of people with diabetes and diabetes- and- obesity-related health problems.

There is no doubt that the introduction of home blood glucose monitoring has helped to revolutionize diabetes management and reduce the amount of time people with diabetes need to spend in hospital to stabilize their condition. However, this has given rise to a series of compliance and management issues for the person with diabetes and the health professional who provides their care. Jan Alford reports.

According to the 1993 US National Adult Literacy Survey, approximately 90 million people in the USA have deficiencies in reading or computational skills that prevent them from fully participating in normal daily activities – such as reading a bus schedule or entering background information on an application form. Although the Survey did not evaluate the ability to read and comprehend health-related materials,

Insulin is a life-sustaining medication and as such has been designated an ‘essential drug’ by the World Health Organization (WHO). Insulin therefore should be universally available to everyone who requires it for survival. However, accessibility to the drug is often not secure. This results in life-threatening complications for people who depend on insulin for survival. The authors of this article, in reporting on the results of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) survey, 2002-2003, make a call for improvements to the pricing and availability

Results from a number of recent studies highlight the importance of psycho-social factors in diabetes management. Research shows that psychological co-morbidity is prevalent in people with diabetes. As a result, well-being, self-care and glycaemic control are adversely affected. Depression is common in people with diabetes, and

In order to minimize the risk of diabetes complications, effective therapy for people with Type 2 diabetes involves lifestyle changes and poly-pharmacy targeting levels of blood glucose, blood pressure and blood fat. However, the strict targets set in recent guidelines are seldom achieved by the majority of people with diabetes. Barriers to effective diabetes therapy have been identified within the organization of health care and in the interaction between health-care providers and people with

The overall objective of Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs (DAWN) is to improve the psycho-social support for people with diabetes. This global Programme is led by Novo Nordisk, in partnership with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and an advisory panel of leading diabetes experts. The DAWN activities began with the DAWN Study in 2001. This global investigation into the affective aspects of the condition facilitated comparisons and cross-referencing between the key players in the diabetes community. The key finding was that critical gaps