Diabetes care and prevention strategies

Diabetes is a chronic disease that disrupts the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar. It is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke, lower limb amputation, and even early death. According to the Canadian Diabetes Association, there are 11 million Canadians living with diabetes or prediabetes today. That number is roughly 10% of the population, with that percentage expected to grow to 12% by 2025. Diabetes becomes more prevalent with advancing age – in Canada, 1 in 6 older adults report having the disease. Type 2 diabetes is the most common, accounting for 90-95% of all cases.

Chronic diseases like diabetes are often ‘self-managed’ – a model of care that empowers patients to be in control of their own treatments. But managing diabetes involves a lot of responsibility and work and can leave some patients feeling overwhelmed. We have compiled some of our evidence-based resources below to help you make informed choices about managing the disease.

Featured Resources

 

For a full list of the Portal’s diabetes resources, click here.


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DISCLAIMER: These summaries are provided for informational purposes only. They are not a substitute for advice from your own health care professional. The summaries may be reproduced for not-for-profit educational purposes only. Any other uses must be approved by the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal (info@mcmasteroptimalaging.org).

Many of our Blog Posts were written before the COVID-19 pandemic and thus do not necessarily reflect the latest public health recommendations. While the content of new and old blogs identify activities that support optimal aging, it is important to defer to the most current public health recommendations. Some of the activities suggested within these blogs may need to be modified or avoided altogether to comply with changing public health recommendations. To view the latest updates from the Public Health Agency of Canada, please visit their website.