Health: Diabetics' Concerns and Management Techniques

NCERx recently asked diabetics' about their condition. Nearly 2200 responded to questions regarding their biggest concerns and their methods of managing their diabetes. Eighty percent of respondents suffer from type II diabetes and 88 percent are open about their condition.

 

Thirty percent of respondents cited the long-term complications of diabetes as their biggest concern. Blindness, heart attack, and limb amputation were the top three possible conditions that worried people the most.

The second most popular concern was diet limitations. Although it appears shocking that food restrictions would beat out taking and buying medications, eating unlike medication issues must happen multiple times a day. Seventy-six percent of people indicated that they would be more likely to eat in restaurants that offered a "diabetic-friendly" menu that lists the nutritional information of dishes served. Consequently, respondents' anxieties over their diabetes centered around either future occurrences or ever-present, constantly recurring behaviors.

 

 

Forty-two percent of respondents primarily look to their doctors or health care providers for information about their diabetes. Sixty-seven percent of people agreed that they are satisfied with the amount of diabetic information they get from their doctors. Interestingly, health websites beat out medical journals as the second most popular source for diabetic information. Although medical journals would provide more accurate and less suspicious information, the internet's immediacy trumps medical journals when diabetics seed information.

 

 

Although people were slightly more reluctant to make generalizations about the value of their life after being diagnosed with diabetes, 81 percent of respondents more willingly agreed that they take better care of themselves now.

 

While diabetics are concerned about long-term complications and dietary restrictions, NCERx's survey found that they not only generally trust their doctors but also take better care of themselves since having been diagnosed.