Diabetes – Psychological deterioration and effects

Diabetes is a chronic health problem with devastating, yet preventable consequences. It is characterized by high blood glucose levels resulting from defects in insulin production, insulin action, or both. Globally, rates of type 2 diabetes were 15.1 million in 2000; the number of people with diabetes worldwide is projected to increase to 36.6 million by 2030. This rate is expected to increase greatly over the next half century. Along with the increase in incidence of diabetes, both individual and societal expectations concerning the management of diabetes have also increased, Patients with diabetes often worry about lasting complications of the disease, how to manage the cost of the disease, and how it will affect their families or their jobs. Other research has focused on the cumulative effect of attitudes, preferences and conceptualizations in the form of identity, measuring the impact identification with the illness has on social relationships with others, including health care providers, and how this identity can influence certain behaviors.