Diabetes in Elderly

Age and diabetes have strong connections, and recently there's even more evidences to prove this point. According to a study appears in the June 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, obesity and weight gain increase the risk for diabetes in the elderly, particularly those who exceed the age of 50. But such association is not as strong after the age of 75, and it goes the same for younger adults.

Mary L. Biggs and colleagues from the University of California, have included about 4193 adults aged 65 or older into their study. There were several aspects which they took measure on. Among the many aspects, were those normal measurement which we could think of, such as the body mass index (BMI) at study entry, BMI when participants are in their 50's, waist circumference, as well as waist-hip-ratio. These aspects were taken into serious consideration in order to conduct the study.

From this recent study of theirs, there were several specific outcomes which could be derived from. The very first thing they found was compared to people whose weight remained stable all along the years of their lives thus far, people who with normal weight before the age of 50 and who gain 20 pounds more (about 9 kg) after the age of 50. The risk of them haveing diabetes increases for as many as threefold before entering the study.

In the meantime, among all the participants, those who have the most waist circumferences as well as BMI have diabetes risk for four times greater than normal individuals. At the same time, for those people whose waist grew by more than 4 inches over the follow-up period throughout the study, would probably have a 70% risk increment of diabetes development.

Heat Wave

Heat weather is inevitable, especially in countries such as Malaysia. Although many foreigners are coming forward to this country for vacation purposes, but for local dwellers like us who stay in Malaysia for a good number of years, such weather is a worrying phenomenon. As the time goes by, the weather is increasing by leaps and bounds, due to the effect of global warming and other climate changes.

Heat causes people to sweat a lot, and for some, particularly diabetic patients, heat could cause great damage to their health too. According to a lead researcher named Adrienne Nassar, a third year medical resident at Mayo Clinic, he pointed out that people with diabetes have an impaired ability to sweat, which in turns causing them to have heat-related illnesses, and under no proper control, situations such as high blood sugar can occur. When no control is properly implemented, this could even increase their chances of suffering dehydration.

For diabetes, it is said that when the environmental temperature rises to around 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (which is about 26-32 degree Celcius), heat illness can potentially take place. But the current problem is, diabetic patients only aware of the possible illnesses when the temperature rises more than 90 degree Fahrenheit, up to 100 degree Fahrenheit. In Malaysia, a country with high humidity at times, that can make heat more dangerous because it slows the evaporation of perspiration, which is the way the body cools itself.