According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 34 million men and women in the United States are living with diabetes, a chronic condition that interferes with your ability to regulate your blood sugar. Another 88 million have prediabetes, bringing the total to more than 100 million people.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when you don’t produce enough of the hormone insulin to keep blood sugar under control. With Type 2 diabetes, your body produces insulin, but doesn’t use it properly so your blood sugar is elevated.
Dr. Farah Khan and our team of experts at Millennium Park Medical Associates help our patients here in Greenwood Village, Colorado, manage their diabetes symptoms and keep their blood sugar controlled.
One of the interesting aspects of diabetes is that it doesn’t treat men and women equally. Here are some of the ways you might experience diabetes differently depending on your sex.
Prevalence
More men (14.6%) than women (9.1%) have Type 2 diabetes. These statistics were compiled from a study of almost 1,400 men and women over 70 years old.
Risk factors
Certain risk factors are gender blind. For example, regardless of your sex, you’re at higher risk for diabetes if it runs in your family, you eat mostly junk food, you don’t exercise, you smoke, or you’re overweight. But there are some nuances within those risk factors that are important to note.
While overweight men and women both risk developing diabetes, men are often diagnosed with the condition at a lower body mass index (BMI) than women.
Stress, depression, and anxiety both exacerbate diabetes, so women, who tend to worry more, may have worse symptoms than men.
Age and life stage
Before puberty, more girls than boys are diagnosed with diabetes. After puberty, the stats flip, and boys’ rate of diagnoses surpasses girls’. The number reverses again as women enter menopause and postmenopause. The common denominator here is hormone fluctuation and imbalance.
click more information: mpmacolorado.com
No comments yet