Research Paper on Type 1 Diabetes

Introduction

Type I diabetes is one of the chronic diseases that affect teenagers and children and is sometimes referred juvenile diabetes. The condition results from a very high level of glucose in the blood due to low insulin production. It occurs when the pancreases are not able to secrete enough insulin hormone that will moderate the blood sugar level, and the glucose gets into the body cells causing type I diabetes (Chiang, Kirkman, Laffel & Peters, 2014). There is much need to manage the blood glucose level which is monitored using insulin in the form of medication and change of lifestyle (Chiang et al., 2014).

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Reasons for Selecting the Topic

Type I diabetes has affected so many people thus making it a very sensitive topic to discuss. Type I diabetes is found by the CDC to account for 5 to 10% of all diabetes cases (Chamberlain, Rhinehart, Shaefer & Neuman, 2016). To add on that Type I diabetes has many risk factors which are: lifestyle, genetics, environmental factors and autoimmune. Studies show that over one million young Americans are living type 1 diabetes and more than 200,000 are under twenty years (Chamberlain et al., 2016). Therefore I chose the topic because type 1 diabetes is highly prevalent in teenagers and through its discussion, many people get the awareness and how they can deal with it and how to avoid its risk factors.

Description of Targeted Audience

The target audience is the teenagers to make them aware of the disease and how to manage it and more importantly how to change their lifestyle to be in good health. Those that feel some of type 1 diabetes symptoms should visit a healthcare center for further diagnosis. Parents, health care professionals, and the schools' community are the secondary target group as they should be aware of the disease so that they can collaborate in teaching and training the teenagers how to cope with the illness and how to live in a healthy and productive lifestyle.

Previously, Juvenile diabetes or type 1 diabetes was referred to as IDDM that is insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (Mayo Clinic, 2016). The disease has become very prevalent in young people and sometimes even affecting young adults. The condition is said to be autoimmune as it happens when one's pancreas seizes to produce insulin. Annually more than 40,000 in the United States are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2014). Several symptoms can be observed when one has type 1 diabetes. The signs and symptoms for juvenile diabetes are intense and show at an early stage ("Diabetes Research Institute," 2016). They may include: fatigue, increased thirst, frequent urination, tendencies of bedwetting in children, yeast infection in women, too much hunger, weakness, blurred vision and irritability (Atkinson, Eisenbarth & Michels, 2014).

Management and Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes

There is a need for proper management and treatment of type 1 diabetes. Mostly insulin injections and pumps are used in control of this condition. Another way is through therapies that will facilitate optimization, replacement or renewal of the cell that produce insulin and preventing the body from attacking the insulin-producing cells ("Diabetes Research Institute," 2016. Physical activities and close monitoring of the blood glucose level is equally important. If not well managed the disease may cause damage to other organs (Katsarou et al., 2017).

Identification of Credible Websites

Through the help of several websites, one can get the much-needed information concerning type 1 diabetes and other health issues. It is through the below sites that one gets the right information related to type 1 diabetes.

Sources of information

The websites that were found to be most helpful based on the topic of type 1diabetes are:

Center for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/diabetes.html

Mayo Clinic https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-1-diabetes/symptoms-causes/syc-20353011

Healthypeople.gov https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/diabetes

Diabetes Research Institute https://www.diabetesresearch.org/living-with-diabetes

References

American Diabetes Association. (2014). Diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes care, 37(Supplement 1), S81-S90.

Atkinson, M. A., Eisenbarth, G. S., & Michels, A. W. (2014). Type 1 diabetes. The Lancet, 383(9911), 69-82.

Chamberlain, J. J., Rhinehart, A. S., Shaefer, C. F., & Neuman, A. (2016). Diagnosis and management of diabetes: a synopsis of the 2016 American Diabetes Association standards of medical care in diabetes. Annals of internal medicine, 164(8), 542-552.

Chiang, J. L., Kirkman, M. S., Laffel, L. M., & Peters, A. L. (2014). Type 1 diabetes through the lifespan: a position statement of the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care, 37(7), 2034-2054.

Diabetes Research Institute. (2016). What is Type 1 Diabetes? Retrieved November 12, 2016, from https://www.diabetesresearch.org/what-is-type-one-diabetes

Katsarou, A., Gudbjornsdottir, S., Rawshani, A., Dabelea, D., Bonifacio, E., Anderson, B. J., ... & Lernmark, A. (2017). Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Nature reviews Disease primers, 3, 17016.

Mayo Clinic. (2016). Type 1 diabetes. Retrieved November 04, 2016, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-1-diabetes/basics/definition/con