Complications

This section starts to highlight areas of associated symptoms that individuals with diabetes may experience or need treatment and care for.

Diabetes in its impact on normal functioning is varied, with individual experiences reflecting this variance. Common areas faced are related to cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and sensory impairment (retinopathy and neuropathy).

The Department of Health presents the following statistics on complications and their impact on individuals and on healthcare:

  • Adults with diabetes have heart disease death rates about two to four times higher than adults without diabetes.
  • The risk for stroke is two to four times higher among people with diabetes.
  • Diabetes is the single largest cause of blindness in people of working age.
  • Diabetes is the most common cause of non-traumatic lower limb amputation.
  • Impotence may affect up to 50 per cent of men with longstanding diabetes.
  • Diabetes has become the single most common cause of end stage renal disease.
  • 24 per cent of people admitted to hospital with Myocardial Infarction (MI) have diabetes – and their outcomes are much worse than those without diabetes.
  • Hospital lengths of stay for people with diabetes are 20 per cent higher than for those without diabetes – systematic care in hospital can reduce this by half.

Taken from the Department of Health (2007): The way ahead: the local challenge. Improving diabetes services: the National Service Framework four years on London: The Department, page 43).

Early diagnosis of diabetes, good management and regular screening for complications (and risks of complications) can do much to reduce the burden that complications can impose on individuals and healthcare generally. Key to the management and care of patients experiencing such complications is the way the multi disciplinary team incorporates specialist care and interventions into the patient care pathway.

The annual review provides an opportunity to monitor risk factors for complications and detect any complications that are present to enable prompt treatment. It also provides an opportunity to develop a careplan in partnership with the patient.

This section is not an exhaustive list of potential areas of complications, but should help you in making clinical decisions and understanding the importance of seeking expert help.