Understanding Type 2 Diabetes: Pathology, Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Treatments - Essay Example

Diabetes type two disease is a disease that prohibits the body system from utilizing insulin. Thus, individuals with diabetes type 2 are from time to time regarded to be insulin resistant. Diabetes type two occurs due to an individual’s body being unable to utilize blood glucose, leading to the accumulation of glucose. The human pancreas produces two hormones relevant to blood glucose; insulin and glucagon (2015). Therefore, the insulin hormone is responsible for regulating the utilization of blood glucose by the cells. The production of insulin below the required body levels causes diabetes type two in an individual’s body or the underutilization of insulin by the body cells that accumulate glucose in the blood. As a result, less glucose is transported to the cells (2015). This paper will critically analyze the pathology of diabetes type 2 disease, state the risk factors, the various symptoms, and the possible treatment remedies.

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Several health risk factors may lead to the pathogenesis of diabetes type two. The health risk factors include; genetic factors where diabetes type 2 has a strong genetic link. Therefore, a genetic history of diabetes type two could very possibly be carried forward to the offspring (2020). Another risk factor that could lead to diabetes is a sedentary lifestyle. Additionally, to the genetic history and sedentary lifestyle, other factors like high alcohol intake, high blood pressure, obesity, high levels of carbohydrates in a diet, and high fat levels in triglycerides.

Moreover, other non-biologic risk factors may also cause diabetes-like ethnicity, where some ethnic groups, like African Americans, and Hispanic Americans, may be at higher risk of developing diabetes type 2. Another risk factor for diabetes type 2 is age. An increase in age increases the risk of diabetes type 2 development (2020). Age increment contributes to the risk of diabetes since, at the age of 40 years and above, individuals tend to exercise less often, thus losing a lot of muscle mass and gaining weight. Additionally, insulin resistance and glucose tolerance in the human body decrease with age increase.

The prevalence of diabetes type 2 is more pronounced in the male gender than in the female. This is due to a hormone known as testosterone found in higher volumes in males than in females. Other than the testosterone function of aiding in sperm production in males, the hormone is also involved in fat deposition. Diabetes type 2 has a direct relationship with an increase in visceral fat deposition, whereby low testosterone levels in males increase the chances of an individual developing diabetes type 2 (2020). However, still in gender prevalence, females may develop complications with diabetes disease and succumb easily compared to their male counterparts.

Moreover, environmental factors may also contribute to diabetes type 2 pathogenesis. They include an environment exposed to enteroviruses that may damage the cells, and a polluted environment in soil, water, and air. Other environmental factors, such as an unhealthy diet, inadequate exercise, and stressful conditions, may lead to diabetes type 2 (Dendup et al., 2018). Additionally, in the genetic aspect that may contribute to diabetes, type 2 is the inheritance of polygenic (14-17) may cause a series of abnormal polymorphisms and genes (Fuchsberger et al., 2016). Thus, impairment of the genes may lead to disorientation of insulin secretion.

A sedentary lifestyle also significantly contributes to the development of Type 2 diabetes. A sedentary lifestyle implying an individual's consumption of unhealthy foods with high carbohydrate content and high triglyceride content may contribute to the development of diabetes type 2 (Bertoglia et al., 2017). Also, lack of or inadequate excising as a form of a sedentary lifestyle may lead to diabetes type 2.

The underproduction of insulin in an individual’s body, which leads to diabetes type 2, is always due to an impairment of the Beta-cells of the pancreas from which the insulin hormone is produced. The impairment of the Beta-cell could be a result of a possible autoimmune reaction of the beta-cells of the pancreas. The insulin response is hinged on the transport of the coupling of glucose and transmembranous transport to the glucose sensor. Therefore, the glucose sensor induces an increase in glucokinase and improves protein stability. A primary step in insulin metabolism and linking with the metabolic process is glucokinase induction (Park et al., 2015). Moreover, cells may develop strategies to reduce the risk of diabetes type 2 when the cells reduce their ability to absorb blood glucose.

Diabetes type 2 manifests through various physical signs and symptoms, which may be detectable. The physical signs include frequent urination, blurred vision, slow healing of cuts and wounds, patches of dark skin, increased thirst, numbness and pain in the hands and feet, and glycosuria (Park et al., 2015). The detection of these signs and symptoms may necessitate a diabetes type 2 test.

It is the primary test that is currently used to diagnose diabetes type 2 the HbA1c test, fasting plasma glucose test, and the oral glucose tolerance test. In fasting, a plasma glucose test is conducted on an individual who has not had glucose intake for a minimum of eight hours. This test's result interpretation is that a level of 100-125 mg/dl indicates a positive in diabetes. The oral glucose test is when an individual is given a solution of 75 grams of glucose and if their blood glucose after 2 hours has a level above 200 mg/dl, then indicates diabetes presence (Oueslati, 2017). The final test of HbA1c is used to measure glucose levels in diabetic patients where a level higher than 6.5% indicates diabetes presence.

References

Bertoglia, M. P., Gormaz, J. G., Libuy, M., Sanhueza, D., Gajardo, A., Srur, A., ... & Erazo, M. (2017). The population impact of obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and tobacco and alcohol consumption on the prevalence of type 2 diabetes: Analysis of a health population survey in Chile, 2010. PloS one, 12(5), e0178092.

Dendup, T., Feng, X., Clingan, S., & Astell-Burt, T. (2018). Environmental risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(1), 78.

Fuchsberger, C., Flannick, J., Teslovich, T. M., Mahajan, A., Agarwala, V., Gaulton, K. J., ... & Rivas, M. A. (2016). The genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes. Nature, 536(7614), 41-47.

Oueslati, I. (2017). The Use of HBA1c as a Screening Test for Type 2 Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes in a Tunisian Population. Current Research in Diabetes & Obesity Journal, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.19080/crdoj.2017.02.555595

Park, H., Park, C., Quinn, L., & Fritschi, C. (2015). Glucose control and fatigue in type 2 diabetes: the mediating roles of diabetes symptoms and distress. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(7), 1650-1660.

Pathophysiology and Treatment of Diabetes. (2015). Nutrition and Diabetes, 136–137. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420038798.sec2

Risk factors for type2 diabetes . . . and other stories. (2020). Bmj, m1608. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1608