actress Shelley Duvall dies Thursday at age 75 due to complications from diabetes. The disease struck Duvall, best known for his roles in movies. The Shining, Popeye And in a series of Robert Altman films in the 1970s, he spent several months in hospice care and bedridden at his home in Blanco, Texas. According to her longtime partner Dan Gilroy;
In fact, diabetes is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. american diabetes association,kill 100,000 people According to the report, this is the most common underlying disease in the United States Published in the journal BMJand about 40% of people who died from COVID-19 had diabetes.
Other celebrities living with diabetes include Tom Hanks, Nick Jonas, Randy Jackson, Halle Berry, and Sherri Shepherd.
actress and producer Penny Marshall dies Country singer Waylon Jennings, musician Curtis Mayfield, actor Carroll O'Connor and jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald also had similar numbers of people who developed complications from the disease at age 75 in 2018. Ta.
But what does it mean to die from diabetes complications? And how common is it?
What is diabetes?
More than 38.4 million Americans, or 11.3% of the population, have diabetes, including 8.3 million who have not been diagnosed with diabetes but meet testing criteria. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to , this is a condition caused by a person's blood sugar, the body's main source of energy, being too high. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Glucose is produced by the body and also supplied through food intake.
The hormone insulin, made by the pancreas, is needed to help glucose move into the body's cells and be used for energy. People with diabetes either don't produce enough (or any) insulin or don't use it properly, so insulin stays in the blood without reaching cells.
According to the NIDDKD, there are several types of diabetes. Type 1, which usually occurs in children or young adults but can develop at any age, is a condition in which the body produces little or no insulin and must take insulin every day to stay alive. means. Type 2, the most common, is often caused by being overweight or other risk factors, meaning the cells in your body don't use insulin properly. Gestational diabetes develops during pregnancy. In rare cases, monogenic diabetes is caused by mutations or changes in a single gene.
Diabetes increases the risk of other health problems, such as damage to the eyes, kidneys, nerves, and heart, as well as some types of cancer. However, you can reduce your risk by preventing or managing diabetes by taking medications and monitoring your blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.
How do people die from diabetes complications?
“Diabetes-related deaths are much more common than people realize,” said Dr. Robert Gabay, chief scientific and medical officer of the American Diabetes Association. luck. This is because the disease “can cause a number of complications that can lead to death.”
This includes hyperglycemia, which causes diabetic ketoacidosis. This causes the liver to break down fat for fuel to compensate for the lack of insulin, causing a buildup of dangerous acids called ketones. This has a “significant mortality rate,” Gabay said.
Other complications can include severe hypoglycemia, or hypoglycemia, which can lead to coma and death, he explains. It goes on to say that “cardiovascular disease, stroke, and kidney failure can all be fatal as a result of diabetes.”
Deaths from these complications “don't necessarily tell us much about how the disease was managed,” Gabay said.
Still, he says, people with the disease don't need to panic because “keeping blood sugar levels within a certain range can reduce the risk of serious complications.”
To stay healthy as a diabetic, “work with your health care professional to keep your blood sugar levels within a healthy range,” Gabbay emphasizes. This is most commonly done through monitoring. continuous blood glucose monitor– Medication, diet, exercise, and “regular medical check-ups to monitor for signs of onset of complications.”