Diabetes Mellitus: Australian Health System and Management Strategies

This report provides a detailed overview of diabetes mellitus, an enduring disorder characterized by changes in blood glucose levels. It explores the two major types: Type 1, where the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin, and Type 2, where the body doesn't respond properly to insulin. The report highlights the prevalence of diabetes in Australia, the associated risk factors like age, lifestyle, and genetics, and the symptoms, including frequent urination, thirst, and fatigue. It details diagnostic methods, such as fasting sugar tests, and oral glucose tolerance tests. The report also discusses management strategies for both Type 1 (insulin injections, diet, exercise) and Type 2 (oral medication, lifestyle improvements). It emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis, healthy lifestyle modifications, and regular monitoring to control blood glucose levels and prevent complications.

Running head: DIABETES MELLITUS
DIABETES MELLITUS
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Diabetes mellitus is an enduring disorder that is marked due to change in blood glucose
level. It affects the patient body to effectively use or consume blood sugar or glucose.
Glucose is considered vital to be healthy as it is an important foundation of providing energy
to the tissue and muscles of a person. There are two major types of diabetes mellitus namely
(Who.int, 2019):
1. Type 1 Diabetes mellitus- This is also referred as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus,
where the pancreas cannot produce enough amount of insulin necessary for the body
to survive. It mostly develops in adolescents and children and can be prevalent in later
phase of life.
2. Type 2 Diabetes mellitus- This is also referred as non-insulin dependent diabetes
mellitus, where the human body fails to respond properly to the produced insulin by
the pancreas. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is more prevalent than type 1 and is responsible
for approximately 90% of total diabetes cases.
Diabetes is considered as the biggest challenge faced by Australian health system and is
epidemic in the 21St century. Approximately 280 Australian suffer and develop diabetes each
day and more than 1.7 million population of Australia are suffering from diabetes including
both diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetic patient (Diabetesaustralia.com.au, 2019). Various
diabetes complication are experienced by the Australian population that includes blindness,
amputation and heart disease. Hence, diabetes is considered as the fastest growing condition
affecting the Australian population compared to other chronic diseases like cancer and heart
disease. The risk factors responsible for diabetes mellitus includes inadequate physical
activity, advancing age, ethnicity, background history of diabetes, sedentary lifestyle,
pregnancy, genetic predisposition, obesity and poor diet. The symptoms of diabetes mellitus
depends on the blood glucose level, total population suffering from type 2 diabetes might not
experience the symptom initially, the symptoms include frequent urination, continuous thirst,

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tiredness, weight loss, blurred vision, extreme hunger, slow-healing wound and fatigue
(Healthywa.wa.gov.au, 2019).
It is crucial to diagnose diabetes as early as possible to avoid any complication in the
future. Diabetes mellitus is diagnosed easily by blood test. Blood test is conducted in three
phases:
1. Fasting sugar test- It is conducted on an empty stomach, where the patient is fasting
from past eight hours or overnight.
2. Post-Lunch test- It is conducted once the patient has finished their lunch or have eaten
something. This test can be taken anytime throughout the day (Healthdirect.gov.au,
2019).
3. Oral glucose tolerance test- After the 1 to 2 hours of food and drink consumption thus
blood test is performed.
4. HbA1c test- This blood test is also used for diagnosing diabetes mellitus and
measures the total proportion of haemoglobin content that has sugar molecules
attached to them.
The effective diagnosis of diabetes is done by using finger prick and blood glucose meter
and by using the method of urine glucose test. The management of diabetes various in
between the type 1 and type 2 (American Diabetes Association, 2018). In case of type 1
diabetes mellitus, it is managed by taking lifelong insulin injections associated with healthy
diet, regular exercise and effectively monitoring the blood sugar management. The standard
range of blood sugar level that has to be sustained by the patient is in between 4-6 mmol/L,
thus maintain the normal blood glucose level will help the patient to prevent any long-term
and short-term health complication (Health.gov.au, 2019). In case of type 2 diabetes mellitus,
it is managed by taking oral medication associated with improved lifestyle with regular

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exercise and healthy diet. Medication such as insulin, glycaemic agents are considered to
manage the blood glucose level in the patient.
The risk factor of inherited diabetes mellitus from the family history cannot be prevented,
but other risk factors can be controlled and prevented by modifying and controlling the
lifestyle. Hence, implementing healthy lifestyle will help the patient to improve and manage
diabetes mellitus that includes (Bellou et al., 2018):
 Eating healthy food
 Involving in physical activities
 Lowering stress level
 Reducing alcohol consumption
 Quitting smoking
 Taking adequate amount of sleep
 Controlling the consumption of sugar intake
Hence according to the type of diabetes there are various management strategies for
controlling the incidence of diabetes mellitus such as insulin replacement, stress management
method, medication management, physical activity, healthy eating, education and monitoring
of blood glucose level with regular check-ups. It is very important to visit the doctor or
general practitioner (GP) for assessment of the health condition, as a person itself cannot
distinguish between the type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus and thus require proper assistance
from the doctor to conform the condition (American Diabetes Association, 2018). As the
incidence of diabetes mellitus is increasing day by day, it is very important for the patient to
acquire various strategies including both pharmacological and non-pharmacological
intervention for effectively controlling the level of blood glucose and to be healthy.

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References
American Diabetes Association. (2018). 8. Pharmacologic approaches to glycemic treatment:
Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes-2018. Diabetes care, 41(Suppl 1), S73.
American Diabetes Association. (2018). 4. Lifestyle management: standards of medical care
in diabetes—2018. Diabetes Care, 41(Supplement 1), S38-S50.
Bellou, V., Belbasis, L., Tzoulaki, I., & Evangelou, E. (2018). Risk factors for type 2 diabetes
mellitus: An exposure-wide umbrella review of meta-analyses. PloS one, 13(3),
e0194127.
Diabetesaustralia.com.au. (2019). Diabetes in Australia. Retrieved from
https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/diabetes-in-australia
Health.gov.au. (2019). Department of Health | Diabetes. Retrieved from
https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/chronic-diabetes
Healthdirect.gov.au. (2019). Diabetes diagnosis. Retrieved from
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/diabetes-diagnosis
Healthywa.wa.gov.au. (2019). Diabetes. Retrieved from
https://healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/About-diabetes
Who.int. (2019). WHO | Diabetes mellitus. Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs138/en/