Chronic Conditions Prevention and Management Essay

Chronic Conditions Prevention and Management - Essay Example There are myriad pathogenic processes that are involved in the development of the disease. These processes range from destruction of the ÃŽ ²-cells of pancreas, which is an autoimmune process, with concurrent deficiency of insulin to different abnormalities that leads to the resistance to insulin action. The underlying factor of the abnormalities in protein, fat and carbohydrates metabolism in diabetes disease is as a result of reduced insulin action on target tissues. Studies have shown that insulin secretion impairment, as well as the defect in insulin action, often coexists in one patient but it is not clear which abnormality is usually the primary cause of the elevated blood sugars (American Diabetes Association, 2011). Diabetes causes substantial morbidity and mortality in Australia and the estimates of diabetes prevalence provide stakeholders to plan and allocate enough funds for health services. Therefore, the continuous availability of data on the prevalence of diabetes in Australia is significant for disease monitoring, planning, identifying the population at risk, providing services for people and developing an effective preventive strategies (Shaw & Tanamas, 2012). It is approximated that one million Australians are diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and the prevalence increases with age, which is noted to be higher in male gender (4.9%) than in female gender (3.8%). In addition, the prevalence is high in the northern part of Australia (10.6%) and lowest in the Central part of Australia (3.0%). The disease has been noted to have an onset at childhood in several cases. A report issued by an Australian Institute of health showed that 0.3% of Australians aged below 35 years were diagnosed with diabetes as compared to 16% of Australians aged above 65 years.