Disease Categories, Causes, and Risk Factors

Introduction

A disease is considered as an abnormal condition that negatively impact the structure and function of the parts of the individuals without any immediate external injury. The diseases are specific medical condition that are related with signs and symptoms. In this study, the categories of diseases are to be discussed and the causes and risk factor related to them. Therefore, understanding of specific disease is to be discussed and the pattern of their prevalence along with measures to control it is to be evaluated.

1.1 Identifying categories of disease

The categorisation of diseases is based on the topographic region of the body, anatomical condition, physiological effect, pathological impact, aetiology, juristic by spend of death, epidemiological and statistical. In the topographic classification of disease, the diseases are subdivided into categories such as vascular disease, abdominal disease, chest disease and gastrointestinal disease (britannica.com, 2019). In the anatomical categorisation of the disease, the medical condition is classified by the specific organ the disease affects that are heart, liver, kidney, lung or others. The medical specialists are restricted to treat diseases of specific organs as each organ have different anatomical and function features (britannica.com, 2019). The physiological categorisation of the disease is done on the basis of the underlying derangement in the functional feature of the organisms. The physiological diseases are subdivided into metabolic and respiratory disease. The respiratory diseases are medical condition in which the intake and expulsion of air into and outside of the lungs is disrupted (britannica.com, 2019). The metabolic disease is condition in which the chemical processes in the body disturbed leading to development of disease such a diabetes, gout and others (britannica.com, 2019). The pathological diseases are categorised on the basis of the nature of the disease process which includes neoplastic disease and inflammatory disease (britannica.com, 2019). The etiological classification of the disease is made based on the cause of the disease and is important for consideration of biotic diseases. In this regard, the etiological diseases can be classified as staphylococcal or rickettsial or fungal (britannica.com, 2019). The epidemiological categorisation of disease is made based on the incidence, distribution and control of specific health issue (britannica.com, 2019).

1.2 Explaining the cause and risk factors of disease

The infectious disease mainly occurs due to transmission of infectious agents or pathogens into the body from carrier in the environment to the host (Giesecke, 2017). The infectious diseases can be classified as communicable and non-communicable diseases. The infectious communicable diseases are those that can spread through touch or communication between one another (Sokhna et al., 2017). However, non-communicable infectious diseases are non-infectious medical condition in which the disease cannot be spread from one another (Nelson and Williams, 2014). The key causes for infectious disease are viruses, bacteria, parasites or fungi. The bacteria are mainly one-celled organism which is responsible for causing infectious diseases like tuberculosis, strep throat and others (Koehler et al., 2018). The risk factor for bacterial infectious disease includes infant and children, eating raw and undercooked foods, genetic predisposition to bacterial infection, malnutrition, no maintaining proper hygiene, presence of chronic disease and presence of compromised immune system (Koehler et al., 2018).

The viruses are smaller than bacteria and they are responsible in causing multitude of diseases such as AIDS, common cold, Covid-19, hepatitis and others (La Scola et al., 2020). The risk factors for viral infectious diseases are human factors (age, blood group, personal hygiene, immunity, etc), environmental factors (humidity and temperature) and occupation such as healthcare services and others where direct contact with infectious patients frequently occurs between person to person (Frank, 2020). However, the fungi are single celled or multi-cellular organisms which are responsible for causing skin infections such as ringworm, athlete's foot and others. The risk factors for fungal diseases are parental nutrition, immunosuppression presence in the body, colonisation of fungi and others (Almeida et al., 2019). In contrast, the parasites are multi-cellular organisms which are transferred from carrier to the host and leads to cause diseases such as malaria, dengue and others. The risk factor related to parasitic diseases are poor hygiene, lack of education, hit and humid tropical climate and others (Fountain‐Jones et al., 2018).

2.1 Analysing incidence of Diabetes

Diabetes is nature of metabolic disease in which the body becomes incapable to use insulin in controlling blood sugar that leads the patient to develop abnormal glucose level in the body (Dyson et al., 2018). The presence of diabetes leads to presence of symptoms extreme thirst, increased urination, blurred vision, fatigue, tingling in the hands and legs, delayed wound healing and others (Speight et al., 2020). In the UK, diabetes is one of the prevalent health issues affecting many individuals. In 2019, it is mentioned that 3.9 million people are diagnosed with diabetes among which 90% of them are suffering from type-2 diabetes. In England, 3,319,366 are reported to be diagnosed with diabetes in 2019. However, in Northern Ireland, 99,833 people were reported to be affected by diabetes and 301,523 people in Scotland along with 198,883 people in the Wales are mentioned to be suffering from diabetes (diabetes.org.uk, 2019). The incidence of the type-2 diabetes on analysis indicates that in UK, England has the worst prevalence of the disease followed by Scotland and Wales with North Ireland been least affected.

In 2018, the number of people affected by diabetes in the UK were 3.8 million and in 2017, it was 3.7 million (diabetes.org.uk, 2018). This indicates that the incidence of diabetes in the UK has been increasing at a progressive rate with nearly 0.1 million people been additional affected with each year. In regard to the incidence of diabetes in the UK, it is predicted that 5.5 million people are going to get affected by diabetes by 2030 (diabetes.org.uk, 2019). This indicates that prevalence of diabetes would increase, and it would lead to create pressure on the healthcare authorities to arrange increased services and support regarding the disease. In the UK, it is mentioned that 13.6 million people are current considered to be at risk of developing type-2 diabetes (diabetes.org.uk, 2020). This informs that many individuals in the UK are at risk and many any time develop type-2 diabetes due to their lifestyle condition which would create increased burden of the disease within the country.

2.2 Identifying and explaining patterns of Diabetes

The analysis of the pattern of diabetes spread in the UK from the incidence report mentions that nearly half of the million people in the UK who are suffering from diabetes are still undiagnosed (diabetes.org.uk, 2020). This informs that the current prevalent figures for incidence of diabetes presence in the UK are not holistically determined as the number of undiagnosed people are not included in the incidence report. It indicates that the prevalence of diabetes may be in far worst situation in the UK which is not yet revealed due to lack of diagnosis of the issue in many individuals. Thereafter, the considered number of undiagnosed diabetes in the UK lead to determine that there is a lack of efficacy among the healthcare infrastructure in the country. This is because lack of enhanced healthcare infrastructure leads many people suffering from any disease to lack reach of enhanced services and resources to get diagnosed regarding the disease at the earliest and receive to overcome the condition (Carlton et al., 2017). In respect to gender, 56% of the UK men are found to be at risk of developing diabetes whereas 44% of women are accounted for the disease (diabetes, 2017). This indicates that men in the UK are more vulnerable to develop diabetes compared to women. The Health Survey of England in 2011 mentioned that people in the UK who are living in the lowest quartile are 2.3 times more likely to develop diabetes compared to people who live in the highest quartile (diabetes.org.uk, 2020). This indicates poor people are at increased risk of developing diabetes in the UK compared to rich individuals.

The demographic pattern of the incidence of diabetes in the UK mentions that 10.67% of people of 40-49 years of age, 19.3% of people of 50-59 years of age, 26.2% of people of 60-69 years of age, 23.92% of people of 70-79 years of age and 13.3% of people above 80 years of age are suffering from diabetes in the UK (diabetes.org.uk, 2020). The demographic data regarding diabetes in the UK also mentions that 0.21% of children from 0-9 years of age and 0.94% of children of 11-19 years of age are suffering from diabetes (diabetes.org.uk, 2020). Thus, the demographic data analysis informs that diabetes in the UK affects people of all age groups and does also affect children. However, people who are above 60 years of age shows increased vulnerability to develop diabetes compared to younger individuals. The elderly people are more susceptible to develop diabetes because with age the insulin resistance in the body increases out of changed body composition and sarcopenia (Morrison et al., 2019). In respect to ethnicity in the UK, it is mentioned that people of South Asian origin are six times more at risk of developing type-2 diabetes and African and African-Caribbean people are three times more likely to develop type-2 diabetes compared to white individuals (diabetes.org.uk, 2020). This indicates that white people living in the UK has lower susceptibility to develop type-2 diabetes compared to people of other ethnicities. The exact reason behind the change in respect to ethnicity is not known, but the genetic different and dietary habits in different ethnic individual are considered to influence increased prevalence of type-2 diabetes among them (Morrison et al., 2019).

3. Evaluating preventive measures for Type-2 Diabetes

One of the preventive measures taken by the Diabetes UK is that arranging campaigns to develop health education regarding the diabetes and promote knolwdege regarding the support services present for early diagnosis of diabetes (diabetes.org.uk, 2021). As argued by Chawla et al. (2019), lack of effective education regarding the signs and symptoms of the disease leads to its lower diagnosis among individuals. This is because without education the individuals are unable to understand the signs and symptoms of the disease and where to access support in early and timely diagnosis of the health issue. Thus, the campaigns organised by Diabetes UK to raise awareness regarding the disease is important in managing the current prevalence of the disease by developing more diagnosis of the individual to be treated timely. The NHS England has arranged the NHS Diabetes Prevention Program (NHS DPP) where their key motive is to aware people regarding the cause and risk factors of diabetes. Moreover, through the program the NHS plans to support people regarding the way to maintain a healthy weight and behavioural pattern to avoid diabetes (NHS, 2016). Thus, the NHS DPP is an effective program as it helps to provide knowledge to the people regarding the way actions in their daily life are4to be managed and changed to avoid the risk of diabetes in them.

The Diabetes UK has developed “Know Your Risk” tool to help people analyse their risk of developing diabetes (diabetes.org.uk, 2019). This is an effective approach as the risk analysis tool would help individuals who are unknown being at risk of diabetes to identify their risk and take proper action in avoiding the risk to live healthy life. The NICE Guidelines regarding Diabetes is developed in supporting prevention and management of diabetes. The guidelines mention that people at risk of diabetes or affected by diabetes are to regularly monitor their blood sugar level through glucose monitoring device. This is because it would provided information about the fluctuations in blood sugar level and prevent worsening of the situation by allowing immediate healthcare actions to be taken at the earliest (NICE, 2017). The type-2 diabetes is considered to occur from intake of increased sugar drinks such as soft drinks and others. In this context, the UK government has levied sugar tax according to which they tax £0.24/L for drinks above 8 g sugar/100 mL (high tier) and £0.18/L for drinks with 5-8 g sugar/100 mL (lshtm.ac.uk, 2018). The initiate is taken to increase the overall price of the sugar products so that they are consumed in less amount which would eventually lead to minimise one key risk of type-2 diabetes in people.

Conclusion

The above discussion mentions that the diseases are categorised in various aspects such as topographic disease, physiological disease anatomical diseases and others. The infectious diseases mainly occur due to infection by either organisms such as bacteria, fungi, virus and parasites. The presence of diabetes is one of the key diseases in the UK which more vulnerable affects men and people above 60 years of age. Various campaigns like NHS DPP and others are developed in managing and preventing the increased prevalence of diabetes in the UK.

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