Kali Park

BIOL 4500

Dr. Karpel

September 23, 2016

Diabetes and its Correlations

According to the CDC, a reported 29.1 million people in the United States are suffering from diabetes. The increasing number of cases per year has caused diabetes to become an epidemic. As the epidemic becomes more serious, scientists are devoting more resources in order to find a cure for the disease. The research being done has uncovered a number of other serious threats that have a correlation with diabetes. This paper will be exploring only a few of these correlations, such as the link between diabetes, obesity, and sleep apnea. It will also look at possible cures for diabetes that suggest the prevalence of type 3 diabetes, also known as Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, I will be looking at the impact of all aspects of diabetes and how they affect our nation. Finding correlations between diabetes and other aspects of our lives can give us a broader understanding of the disease and hopefully will lead to a better future.

One common correlation is found between diabetes and obesity. Many people who are obese acquire type 2 diabetes sometime in their lifetime. This is because the adipose tissues in these people release a number of things, such as hormones or glycerol, which cause the beta cells to lose their function (Kahn et. al 2006). The loss of function in beta cells causes the body to not react properly to high glucose levels in the bloodstream and eventually causes the development of type 2 diabetes.  In addition to having negative effects on beta cells, obesity is also found to have negative effects on sleep patterns. There is evidence stating that obese people, especially men, have a higher risk for developing sleep apnea (Alexandros et. al). The correlation between obesity and sleep apnea in accordance with obesity and diabetes could point to a potential correlation with type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. This correlation has been found in a study done on apnea rates of people with type 2 diabetes. The study focused on two groups with similar BMIs and waist circumferences. The study found that the group containing people with type 2 diabetes had, on average, higher levels of apnea rates when compared to the control group (Lecube et. al 2015). Even though sleep apnea, obesity, and diabetes don’t initially seem related, there is evidence supporting a correlation between all three.

It is obvious that diabetes is a serious disease not only because of the detrimental effects of the disease itself, but also because of the evidence pointing to other health related issues correlated with the disease. There are studies currently being done in order to help cure diabetes and better the health of the people suffering from it. One of the treatments currently being studied is GSK3 inhibition. If we would be able to inhibit this protein then it would be possible to stop the beta cells from being destroyed. There is still much more that needs to be studied about this treatment because GSK3 is an important protein in many other biological pathways; its inhibition could have potential negative results. Though there are potential risks in using GSK3 inhibition for the treatment of diabetes, it has been used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (Mussmann et. al 2007). This suggests that there could be a potential link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s. This link has been explored and there are studies that suggest Alzheimer’s disease should be considered type 3 diabetes. Like diabetes, this disease is also highly related to levels of insulin. Insulin affects learning and long-term memory; when people develop Alzheimer’s their body becomes resistant to this type of insulin, causing the acquisition of the disease (Kroner 2009). This also explains the symptoms that one experiences when suffering from Alzheimer’s.  It is possible that the similarities between the two diseases could be the reason that the current treatment for Alzheimer's could be a successful treatment for diabetes.

Diabetes is a growing problem in the world, as demonstrated from the previous studies mentioned earlier in this paper. Research has made us aware that the disease is affecting more than just the glucose levels of those diagnosed with diabetes. People who suffer from diabetes have specific limitations due to their illness. These limitations can leak into all aspects of their lives, such as their work life. There is evidence that people who have diabetes become less effective in their work due to extra time off. They also are shown to be less effective when looking at productivity loss while they are at work. (Tunceli 2005). This loss of productivity in the workplace affects more people that just the one with diabetes. Coworkers or people who associate with that specific business are affected by the lack of productivity of that individual. In the long run, with the amount of people suffering from diabetes, this could start to affect the economy in a negative way. According to a paper on the economics of diabetes, the disease costs around 245 billion dollars per year. Of this, 69 billion dollars can be associated with the cost of lost productivity (Economic Cost of Diabetes 2013). More and more people are getting diagnosed with diabetes each year, which means more money will be lost due to a decrease in productivity each year. This is evidence that diabetes is not only affecting those with the illness, but it also has an effect on the population as a whole.

            Diabetes is a serious problem in the United States. Each year thousands of new people are diagnosed with diabetes and millions are living undiagnosed with the disease. As this disease gets more prevalent in our society it begins to affect more and more people. Also as diabetes becomes more prevalent, scientists are finding more correlations between the disease and other aspects of our lives. The discovery of these correlations could be beneficial to our society by giving us more information on how to treat and cure the diseases that are associated with diabetes. It could also give us input in how to help our economy not lose money due to the high cost of diabetes. Ideally the discovery of the negative correlations with diabetes will help us become more proactive when it comes to preventing the disease. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes, and also the most preventable. We could solve many economic and health problems if we can prevent the growing number of diabetes diagnoses per year.

Works Cited

Alexandros N. Vgontzas, MD; Tjiauw L. Tan, MD; Edward O. Bixler, PhD; Louis F. Martin, MD; Duane Shubert, MD; Anthony Kales, MD (1994). Sleep Apnea and Sleep Disruption in Obese Patients. Arch Intern Med. 154(15): 1705-1711.

Economic costs of diabetes in the U.S. in 2012. Diabetes Care 2013;36:1033-1046. (2013). Diabetes Care, 36(6), 1797-1797.

Kahn, S. E., Hull, R. L., & Utzschneider, K. M. (2006). Mechanisms linking obesity to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Nature, 444(7121), 840-846.

Kroner, Z. (2010). The Relationship Between Alzheimer's Disease and Diabetes: Type 3 Diabetes? ACAM Integrative Medicine Blog. 14.

Lecube, A., Sampol, G., Hernández, C., Romero, O., Ciudin, A., & Simó, R. (2015). Characterization of Sleep Breathing Pattern in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Sweet Sleep Study. Plos ONE, 10(3), 1-9. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119073

Mussmann, R., Geese, M., Harder, F., Kegel, S., Andag, U., Lomow, A., . . . Austen, M. (2007). Inhibition of GSK3 Promotes Replication and Survival of Pancreatic Beta Cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 282(16), 12030-12037.

Tunceli, K., Bradley, C. J., Nerenz, D., Williams, L. K., Pladevall, M., & Lafata, J. E. (2005). The Impact of Diabetes on Employment and Work Productivity. Diabetes Care, 28(11), 2662-2667.