fully understood, this section of the proposal presents a brief review of the general nature of type II diabetes.
Nature of the disorder. Diabetes is the name of two different endocrine diseases, both characterized by excessive urination and thirst. Diabetes mellitus affects carbohydrate, protein, and lipid metabolism (Quinn, 1993).
Diabetes insipidus is caused by an inability of the kidney to conserve water, due to a lack of antidiuretic hormone. Diabetes occurs when the pancreas is unable to secrete enough insulin to maintain a normal concentration of the sugar glucose in the blood (Quinn, 1993). In severe cases the blood-glucose concentration is very high, and large amounts of glucose are excreted in the urine. Primary diabetes has two forms: insulin-dependent and noninsulin-dependent, both caused by environmental and genetic factors (Quinn, 1993).
The noninsulin-dependent form (type II) usually occurs in people over the age of 40 years. Quinn (1993) reports that the these people have higher than normal levels of insulin but are resistant to its action; ketoacidosis is rare. Obesity can impair insulin action, so obese people are predisposed to this form of diabetes, as are populations that have recently adopted Western processed-food diets (Quinn, 1993).
Incidence. It is estimated that 4 percent of the world's population has diabetes (Stark & Morris, 1994). Diabetes affects over 10 million people in the United States alone and causes about 300,000 deaths each year (Stark and Morris, 1994). Its prevalence increases with age, from about 0.2 percent in persons under 17 years of age to about 20 percent in persons aged 65 years and over, and is greater in females (Stark & Morris, 1994). A number of sociodemographic factors have been found to be associated with the development of type II diabetes. In the United States prevalence has been found to be inversely related to family income; moreover, it varies markedly among...