Risk Factors of Diabetes

The purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate two recent studies, published within the last 5 years, on diabetes associated with other risk factors. One article provided insights on sudden cardiac death among diabetics. The second article evaluated the trends in incidence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among persons diagnosed diabetes in the U.S (Burrows et al. 2010).

Diabetes mellitus is linked to a risk of cardiovascular disease, sudden cardiac arrest, and death (Forslund et al. 2010). With those affected by sudden cardiac death, nearly half are found to have had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease (Forslund et al. 2010). According to Forslund et al (2010), these sudden deaths could have been significantly reduced had they been effectively treated. Thus, this study was implemented to examine how preventive measures had been carried out for people with diabetes mellitus as documented in their medical records (Forslund et al. 2010). Aiming primarily on sudden cardiac death, an additional focus was to evaluate the documentation and procedures used in the caring for diabetics (Forslund et al. 2010).

Documentation in medical records for people with DM were collected, reviewed, and analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods (Forslund et al. 2010). To reduce the large number of data, the sample years were limited between 2003 and 2005, resulting in 56 people diagnosed with diabetes mellitus who died of a sudden cardiac arrest. Per this study sample, 2 persons had Type I diabetes and 54 had Type II diabetes (Forslund et al. 2010). The subjects’ medical reports were evaluated according to the documentation of care given during the year prior to each individual’s sudden cardiac death (Forslund et al. 201...

... middle of paper ...

... to longer diabetes durations and greater chance to develop ESRD (Burrows et al. 2010).

In conclusion, overall for both studies, to prevent complications and a premature death, it is necessary to do more than just ask questions about the patient’s life style, symptoms of angina, diet and nutrition, etc (Forslund et al. 2010). The true challenge for nurses is to involve people with DM in their own care and thus improve the prognosis (Forslund et al. 2010). And in reducing ESRD incidence, continual interventions, such as blood glucose and blood pressure control, to improve diabetes care and to increase awareness of risk factors for kidney disease in diabetics might be a key factor (Burrows et al. 2010). Ultimately, prevention of DM and improved diabetes management are likely to contribute in part to the prevention of kidney disease, ESRD, and sudden cardiac arrest.