Diabetes Prevalence in Saskatchewan

Running head: DIABETES PREVALENCE IN SASKATCHEWAN
DIABETES PREVALENCE IN SASKATCHEWAN
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DIABETES PREVALENCE IN SASKATCHEWAN
Introduction:
Saskatchewan can be described as the prairie as well as a boreal province in the
western part of Canada and is the only province that has no natural borders. It is spread over
an area of about 651900 square kilometres and comprises of about 1098352 people according
to that data collected in the year 2016. Over the years, a growing trend of people getting
affected by diabetes is observed in the nation. The number of people suffering from diabetes
is increasing over the years and it is suspected to reach a number that will impact the
economy of the nation (Bird et al., 2015). Eventually it will be acting as one of the biggest
health burden on the nation affecting the quality of life of people and making them suffer
physically, mentally, emotionally as well as socially. This assignment will mainly be
describing the advent of diabetes as a major threat in Saskatchewan and will also discuss
whether diabetes is affecting Saskatchewan only or posing a threat to entire Canada.
Brief overview of the disorder and its associated complication:
Diabetes mellitus can be defined as the group of disorders that are mainly
characterised by high levels of blood glucose levels that result from the defects of insulin
production, insulin action as well as both. Insulin is a hormone that is mainly released from
the pancreas and helps the cells of the body to accept the glucose whose levels increase in
blood after a meal. This glucose helps the cells to take part in respirations and thereby release
energy helping in performing different metabolic functions of different organs of the body
(Alsabbagh et al., 2015). However, when individuals get affected by diabetes type 1, insulin
cannot be successfully produced by the body and hence insulin remains absent and so cells
cannot accept glucose and gets deprived of energy. In case of diabetes type 2, the pancreas
release insulin but the cells of the body become resistant to insulin action. Therefore, they
cannot take glucose inside them and gets deprived of energy. The blood glucose level

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DIABETES PREVALENCE IN SASKATCHEWAN
increases in blood resulting in different complications as well as life threatening situations in
affected individuals (Lipscombe et al., 2018). Diabetes dramatically increases the different
types of risks that result into cardiovascular disorders and even strokes. Neuropathy and
nerve damage can also result in affected individuals with many severe outcomes like food
infection and amputation as well. Kidney damage and nephropathy affects the health of the
people resulting in threatening situations and even poor quality lives. Eye damage or
retinopathy can result in partial blindness along with foot damage and hearing impairment
along with skin conditions are also quite common among the affected individuals (Spurr et
al., 2018). Alzheimer’s disorder and depression are also seen to be quite common among
people. Therefore, this wide variety of complications result diabetic patients to live lives of
suffering and restrictions that affect their poor quality life. It not only affects the economic
conditions of people but also affects their emotional stabilities and social lives.
Prevalence:
Data as released by the Government of Saskatchewan gives a detailed insight about
the results of the statistical analysis about diabetes prevalence conducted in Saskatchewan.
Diabetes was found to be most common in the people who were between the age of 65 and
older. In this cohort, about 1 in every 4 people had been seen to be suffering from diabetes
(Wesiman et al., 2018). Moreover, about 1 in every 13 Saskatchewanian residents accounting
for about 7.4% belong to the age cohort of 1 year or older had been seen to be suffering from
diabetes. When gender based study was conducted, it was seen that diabetes was about 24%
more common in the males than that of the females. It was also found that about 71% of the
people who were suffering from diabetes also suffered from high blood glucose level
(Saskatchewan.ca, 2017). A critical analysis had also provided us with detailed knowledge
about how the disorder is gradually becoming a diseases burden on people in Saskatchewan.

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DIABETES PREVALENCE IN SASKATCHEWAN
From the year 2010/11 to that of 2014/15, for all causes of hospitalisations and death of the
Saskatchewanians when compared to patients suffering from diabetes, it could be seen that
people with diabetes had spent 3.5 times more days in the hospital and also had 2 times
higher risk of death. Further data which was updated by the government in 2016 in the month
of July is about 81000 people accounting for about 7% of the Saskatchewan residents of one
year of older had been affected by diabetes (Feng et al., 2018). This prevalence rate gives a
concerning picture of how residents of Saskatchewan are suffering from poor quality life due
to diabetes.
Critical review of the statistical data:
Diabetes Charter for Canada as published by Canadian Association had given a
detailed data about the condition of diabetes affected people in Saskatchewan. The key
statistics state that estimated diabetes prevalence in Saskatchewan in 2015 is about 93000 that
accounts for about 8.5% of the population (Kosar et al., 2018). The experts have analyzed the
trend and had stated that it might grow up to the level of 129000 in the year 2025 that would
account for about 11.1%. This data shows the instance where the chronic disorder of diabetes
might impact the province as a major threat to health conditions in the coming years. The
estimated pre-diabetes prevalence that was found in the year 2015 in people who are above
the age of 20 was about 175,000 which accounted for about 23.6% (Puntakhee et al., 2018).
This number is suspected to increase to about 187,000 in the year 2025 which is about 24.8%
of the total population. It could be seen that almost one fourth of the population in the year
2025 would become highly vulnerable to the development of diabetes which might have
severe impact on the economy of the nation. The data also gives an idea about the estimated
cost of diabetes in Saskatchewan. In the year, the estimated cost of diabetes is found to be
about &482 million and this is believed to be increased to an amount of $567 million in the