Diabeetus Flashcards
Type 1 Diabetes
- Develops during childhood or adolescence
- Sx onset is abrupt
- Primary defect is destruction of pancreatic beta cells from autoimmune processes - insulin levels decrease until they reach 0
Type 2 Diabetes
- Develops later in life, becoming more common in children and adolescence
- Sx result from combination of insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion
- Early disease, insulin levels tend to be normal or high, but insulin produced does not line up with plasma glucose level
- Over time leads to diminished pancreatic beta cell function
- Strong familial association
- Tightly linked to weight gain and obesity
Causes of insulin resistance
- Reduced binding of insulin to it’s receptors
- Reduced receptor numbers
- Reduced receptor responsiveness
Short term complications of diabetes
- Hyperglycemia
- Hypoglycemia
- Ketoacidosis - develops when hyperglycemia becomes severe and is allowed to persist; rare for T2, common for T1
Long term complications of diabetes
- Macrovascular damage
- Microvascular damage
Diabetes and Macrovascular Damage
- CVD (leading cause of death in people with diabetes)
- increased risk for: heart disease, hypertension, stroke d/t faster progression of atherosclerosis resulting from hyperglycemia and altered lipid metabolism
Diabetes and Microvascular Damage
- retinopathy - major cause of blindness
- nephropathy
- sensory and motor neuropathy
- autonomic neuropathy: gastroparesis
- amputations secondary to infection
- erectile dysfunction
Gestational Diabetes
defined as diabetes that appears in the pregnant patient during pregnancy and then subsides after delivery
Causes of Gestational Diabtes
- Placenta produces hormones that antagonize insulin’s actions
- Production of cortisol (promotes hyperglycemia) increases threefold during pregnancy
- Because glucose can pass freely from maternal to fetal circulation, hyperglycemia in mother will stimulate excess secretion of insulin in fetus. Resulting hyperinsulinsim can have adverse effects of fetus
Nursing considerations: Gestational Diabetes
- monitor blood glucose 6-7 times per day
- insulin preferred agent for management
- if diabetes persists after delivery, it is no longer gestational and proper diagnosis should be sought out
Diagnostic Criteria for Diabetes
Fasting Blood Glucose > 126mg/dL
Casual Plasma Glucose > 200mg/dL plus sx of diabetes
Oral Glucose Tolerance Test: 2-hr plasma glucose > 200mg/dL
Hemoglobin A1C 6.5% or higher
Pre-diabetes
Fasting Blood Glucose between 100-125mg/dL
2-hr OGTT result of 140-199mg/dL
A1C of 5.7-6.4%
Overview of Treatment: T1D
- Diet
- Self-minotiring blood glucose
- Physical activity
- Insulin replacement
- Management of hypertension: with ACE inhibitors and ARBs preferred; thiazide-like diuretics, or calcium channel blockers used if pt does not have albuminuria
- Management of dyslipidemia: statins preferred
Overview of Treatment: T2D
- Step 1. At diagnosis, initiate lifestyle changes plus metformin.
- Step 2. Continue lifestyle changes plus metformin, and add a second drug
- Step 3. Progress to three-drug combination (inclusive of metformin).
- Step 4. If three-drug combination therapy that includes basal insulin fails to achieve treatment goals after approximately 3 months, it is recommended to proceed to a combination injectable regimen inclusive of insulin and possibly a GLP-1 receptor agonist.
Insulin: Biosynthesis
Synthesized in pancreas by beta cells within the islets of Langerhans