Happy Nice Mall

Diabetes is an insidious disease that significantly increases the risk of circulatory and neurological problems that can lead to early blindness, paralysis, infections that require amputation of gangrenous toes. As with many chronic conditions, the poor and people of color are diagnosed with diabetes. also disproportionately higher rates. Black and Latino Americans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than whites, and poor access to medical care can make it difficult for them to balance complex diet, monitoring and treatment regimens that can stave off their devastating complications. What most researchers don’t understand is that many believe that uncontrolled diabetes greatly increases the dangers of a Covid diagnosis. This is because a sedentary lifestyle, gaining extra weight, or not keeping a close eye on blood sugar levels can trigger chronic inflammation in the body that can increase insulin resistance and weaken the immune system.

Inflammation triggers the release of cytokines, which are small proteins that regulate the body’s immune response to infection or injury. Cytokines are a critical component of the normal healing process, but for people with diabetes and underlying chronic inflammation, all these cytokines can damage healthy tissue. It seems that Covid can cause an uncontrolled release of cytokines, and the resulting “cytokine storm” can wreak havoc on vital organs such as the lungs, with dire consequences and death.

People with type 2 diabetes tend to fail more often than those with type 1 diabetes, in part because people with type 1 diabetes tend to be younger.

In some ways, the pandemic has already positive effects on diabetes care by increasing the adoption of technology that enables remote management of the disease. accelerated embrace telemedicinefor example, it made it possible for healthcare providers to detect a worrisome foot wound in a home-bound patient.

Early in the epidemic, the Food and Drug Administration gave hospitals and long-term care facilities permission distributing continuous glucose monitoring devices to coronavirus patients as a way to reduce risks to healthcare workers. Clinicians have also learned the nuances of caring for hospitalized diabetics with Covid through more intensive monitoring and management of blood glucose levels.

But much progress has been unevenly distributed. The uninsured cannot afford the latest glucose monitoring or insulin delivery devices, and in economically disadvantaged communities with low digital literacy, experts say doctors are less likely to offer new technologies and treatments to Black and Hispanic patients, even if they are covered by insurance.

A board member of the American Diabetes Association, Dr. “The developments in recent years are dizzying, but not everyone has access to them, and it’s just tragic,” said Ruth S. Weinstock.