[Type-2 diabetes mellitus as a cause of disability]

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disease associated with a wide range of comorbidities and complications, including retinopathy and loss of vision, nephropathy and end-stage renal disease, peripheral neuropathy, cardiovascular diseases, lower extremity amputations due to diabetic foot. All this long-term medical complications shorten life expectancy of the affected people and cause physical decline, which leads to disability. The importance of the problem results also from the prevalence of the disease. Diabetes is expected to increase worldwide from 135 million to 300 million people between 1995 and 2025. In Poland it is estimated that 2 million inhabitants have diabetes and half of these population is unaware of the condition. The aim of these review of the literature is to show all positive associations between diabetes and its complications leading to limitations and disability. The prevalence of the disability in the population of the people with diabetes is the sum of all diabetic complications and the process of aging. The diabetes epidemic affects the entire age range and the greatest absolute increase is occurring among the elderly. These informations suggest that the number of people at risk for physical limitations and disability, caused by diabetes will increase dramatically. If these process was not stopped, it would erode health status and quality of life of the great proportion of the society.