The unfortunate thing about Diabetes is that unless someone's blood sugar levels are very high, he may not manifest any symptoms of the disease.
This is why it is so common for Diabetes to be undetected in its early stages.
Diabetes Research Study From Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, for example, a recent study to assess the prevalence not only of Diabetes but also of the condition termed Pre-Diabetes in that country was undertaken by the Department of Clinical Medicine of Colombo University in collaboration with the Oxford Centre for Diabetes Endocrinology and Metabolism . According to their findings, Sri Lanka is among those countries with the highest diabetes prevalence rates in the world.
Among the significant findings from this research study were
- the prevalence of Diabetes in Sri lanka was 10.3% - in other words, one in ten Sri Lankan adults (a total of over 1.3 million people) has Diabetes.
- over 11 % of the adult population (about 1.5 million people ) is in the Pre-Diabetic stage – which means that for every known Diabetic, there is another adult in the population who will shortly develop the disease
- most significantly, over one third of the people who were found to have Diabetes did not know that they had the disease!
Pre-Diabetes
This condition is a precursor stage of Diabetes. If allowed to progress, those with Pre-Diabetes will go on to develop overt Diabetes. The good news is that if the condition is detected at this early stage, intensive lifestyle changes can prevent Diabetes proper from coming on.
The level of glucose (sugar) level in a person's blood is usually measured in millimoles per litre (mmol/L). However, in a few countries such as the United States and Sri Lanka, it is still common to use different units, milligrams per 100 millilitres (mgm/100 ml). The normal range for blood glucose (known as Blood Glucose Level and denoted by the acronym BGL) is between 3.5 and 8 millimoles per millilitre (63 and 144 mgm/100 ml).
Typical Symptoms of Diabetes
These appear if a person's blood glucose level goes over 15 mmol/L (270 mgm/100ml) - and include
- tiredness
- lack of energy
- thirst
- frequent urination
- excessive hunger
- blurred vision
- delayed healing of wounds
- infections such as thrush
Diagnosing Diabetes
The diagnosis of Diabetes is made by measuring a person's BGL, the blood being taken from a vein (venous blood sample) and measured in a pathology laboratory. A blood test made on blood obtained from a finger-prick sample, while it is adequate for monitoring diabetes control, is not accurate enough to make a definite diagnosis of the disease.
A person who has a BGL greater than 7 mmol/L (126 milligrams per 100 ml) on a blood sample taken after 12 hours fasting, or who has a BGL greater than 11 mmol/L (200 mgm/100 ml) on a blood sample taken at other times (known as a "random sample") can be diagnosed as having Diabetes.
Glucose Tolerance Test
Sometimes, a Glucose Tolerance Test is done to diagnose Diabetes. Here, a sample of blood is taken after a person has fasted for 12 hours, after which he or she is given a dose of 100 Grams of glucose to drink. Following this "glucose load", blood samples are taken after 1 hour and 2 hours. Based on how the body handles this glucose load, a confident diagnosis of Diabetes can be made.
Sanjiva Wijesinha - Dr. Sanjiva Wijesinha, Associate Professor at Monash University medical school, writes on health, travel and medical topics.
