Women and diabetes quiz

Women may be affected by Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes. Type 1 usually develops in childhood or young adulthood. Type 2 usually develops in adults. Gestational diabetes is diabetes that occurs during pregnancy.

In people who do not have diabetes, a hormone called insulin regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. Diabetes occurs when there is a problem with the body’s ability to make or use insulin, resulting in abnormally high levels of glucose in the blood.

• Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas no longer produces insulin, usually because a person’s own immune system has damaged the insulin-producing cells.
• In Type 2 diabetes, either the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or the body is unable to use it effectively.
• In gestational diabetes, hormones produced by the placenta affect the ability of a pregnant woman’s insulin to handle glucose.
• Type 2 is the most common type of diabetes.

Over 90 per cent of people with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes. It occurs most commonly in people over the age of 40 but, in recent years, Type 2 diabetes has been affecting people at a younger age.

Studies suggest that the hormone estrogen decreases the risk of heart disease. At menopause, a decrease in estrogen increases women’s risk of heart disease. However, in women with diabetes, estrogen does not appear to offer this protection, regardless of age. So women with diabetes have increased heart risks even before menopause.

Studies suggest that the heart risk that women with diabetes face may be reduced through a combination of factors. These include:

• achieving a healthy weight, especially around the waist, through healthy eating and exercise
• lowering of blood pressure and cholesterol levels
• not smoking
• reducing stress
• improving blood glucose levels

All of these activities also promote better diabetes management.

Gestational diabetes, known as GDM, is diabetes that occurs during pregnancy. GDM typically occurs during the latter part of pregnancy. In pregnancy, hormones produced by the placenta help the baby to develop, but they also affect the mother’s own insulin’s ability to handle glucose. This is called insulin resistance. Most women who are pregnant are able to produce more insulin to compensate for this insulin resistance, but about five per cent of women cannot do so. For these women, blood glucose begins to rise and gestational diabetes is diagnosed. Blood glucose usually returns to normal after delivery.

In women who have gestational diabetes, blood glucose usually returns to normal after the birth of the baby. However, any woman who has had gestational diabetes has an added risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life.

Risks for Type 2 diabetes include modifiable factors such as:

• being overweight
• having a sedentary lifestyle
• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol

Risk factors that can’t be changed include:

• age
• family history of Type 2 diabetes
• Aboriginal, Hispanic, Asian or African origin
• previous gestational diabetes
• having delivered a large baby (over nine pounds, or four kilograms