Diabetes in Malaysia

Diabetes in Malaysia has become a major problem for Malaysians
since the number of people who are suffering from this condition is growing
rapidly and more people are searching for drug-free interventions for the
diabetic dilemma. If you are a diabetic and reading this, do not worry; because
there are solutions for this matter. Doctor2U with the help of University of
Nottingham (Malaysia Campus) came up with an idea of adding two new features to
the Doctor2U application which allows users to estimate and understand the
level of sugar (specifically glucose) from their meals with just taking a
picture of their food with other one which is indicating the sugar blood level from
a patient tongue and retina scanning, alongside with older Doctor2U feature of
Electronic Medical Records.

 

To figure out more about what exactly is diabetes and what are the
causes of this condition we go through in details for your better
understandings.

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas is no longer
able to make insulin, or in other words when the body is not able to make a
good use of the insulin it produces in the body. Insulin is a hormone made by
the pancreas, which its function is like a key to let glucose from the food we
consume pass from the blood stream into cells of the body to produce energy. All
carbohydrates we eat are broken down into glucose in the blood and insulin
helps to transfer glucose into the cells. Failing to produce insulin or use it
effectively in the body leads to increase glucose levels in the blood (called
Hyperglycaemia). Effects of long-term high glucose levels are correlated with
damage to several parts of body and causing failure of organs and tissues.

There are three major types of diabetes:

A) This type used to be known as Juvenile-onset diabetes. This
commonly caused by an auto-immune reaction where defense system of body
attracts the insulin producing cells. The reason of this event is not fully
understood yet. Body of people with type A diabetes produce little or no insulin.
Although this can affects people from any age group, but commonly it develops
in children or young adults. People who are suffering from type A diabetes
require to inject insulin everyday in order to balance the glucose level in
their blood. Failure to access insulin for people with type A diabetes might be
fatal.

B) This type used to be called non-insulin dependent diabetes or
adult-onset diabetes. Almost 90% of all diabetes cases are included in this
category. This is defined by insulin resistance and relative deficiency, either
or both can be present at the time diabetes is diagnosed. Similarly to type A,
the diagnosis of type B can happen at any age as well. Usually type B diabetes
may be undetected for many years and can be noticed once a complication appears
during a routine blood or urine glucose test. Commonly but not always, this
type of diabetes is in direct relation with overweight or obesity which itself
may be the reason of insulin resistance and increase of blood glucose levels.
People with type B diabetes often are able to manage their condition with the
help of exercises and a god diet. Nonetheless, over time most of these patients
require oral drugs and or insulin.

For more emphasis, both type A and B diabetes are serious.

C) This type of diabetes is known as Gestational diabetes (GDM) is
a form of diabetes including high blood glucose level during pregnancy. It can
occur in one in 25 pregnancies worldwide and is connected with problem for both
mother and baby. Normally, GDM disappears after pregnancy but women with GDM
and their children are at a high risk of developing type B diabetes later in
their lives. Half of women approximately with a history of GDM will develop
type B diabetes within five to ten years after giving birth.

The Risk figures for type A diabetes are still under research by
professions. However, having a family member with type A condition may increase
the risk of developing the disease considerably. Furthermore, environmental
aspects and illustration of some viral infections have also been connected to
the risk of developing type A diabetes. There are various risk factors
influencing the risk of type B diabetes which are mentioned below.

 

1. Overweight

2.Family
member history of diabetes

3. Unhealthy
diet

4. Aging

5.Physical
inactivity

6.Ethnicity

7. Poor
nutrition during pregnancy

8.High blood
pressure

9.Impaired
glucose tolerance (IGT)

10.History of
gestational diabetes

 

Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity related to rapid
development and urbanization have caused a sharp increase in chances to develop
diabetes. Moreover, pregnant women who are overweight, have been diagnosed with
IGT, or have any family history of diabetes are all at increased risk of
developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Furthermore, history of
diagnosed with gestational diabetes or being of certain ethnic groups puts
women at increased risk of developing GDM.

 

Diabetes has become one of the most concerning health issue in
Malaysia which is directly affected by increased macro-and micro-vascular
complications, with premature and preventable mortality. Based on statistics
there has been a growth prevalence of type B diabetes (T2D) among young adults
and middle age (? 30) over the past decade in Malaysia. The fourth Malaysian
National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS IV) has reported that the prevalence
of (T2D) has increased to 20.8% affecting 2.8 million individuals in 2011,
compared to third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III), which
reported a prevalence of 14.9% in 2006. Based on ethnic group categorization in
Malaysia; Indians possess the highest number of (T2D) (24.9% in 2011 and 19.9%
in 2006), followed by Malays (16.9% in 2011 and 11.9% in 2006), and Chinese
(13.8% in 2011 and 11.4% in 2006). According to latest report made after the
diabetes day in 14 November 2017 diabetes cases in Malaysia are on the rise in
the country with 3.6 million Malaysians out of a population of 32 million
suffering from the disease. Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam has
stated that another 1.8 million Malaysians might be suffering from diabetes but
they are unaware of their condition regarding failing to go for health
screening. Therefore, increased awareness by public on diabetes, by
acknowledging its risks and the seriousness of annual health screening, it is
hoped that Malaysian’s behavior on prevention and monitoring regarding
non-communicable disease will change. By this action the risk of premature
death as a consequence of diabetes complication will decline. In addition, in a
separate statement it has been stated by Health director–general Datuk Dr. Noor
Hisham Abdullah that out of 3.6 million figure, 1.78 million were women.

   Figure 1: Percentage comparison of Type B
diabetes (T2D) rate by ethnicity in Malaysia      between 2006 and 2011.

 

How to deal with diabetes?

Currently, there are limited solutions for type A diabetes to
prevent. However, people who are struggling with this type can help to delay
the development of the disease by keeping their blood sugar in balance.
Furthermore, they are required regular medical checkups to observe and identify
early sings of complication. If type A diabetes treated early there are chances
that harm can be controlled, slowed and even stopped. Meanwhile, there are
number of factors that impact the improvement of type B diabetes specifically
lifestyle behaviors mostly related to urbanization. These behaviors are consist
of consuming process foods containing high fats, sugar and carbohydrates.
Moreover, urbanization has been determined by physical inactivity and sedentary
lifestyle. Therefore, these factors have been associated with increases of
chances to become overweight or obese which will lead to development of type B
diabetes. There are several number of prevention acts can be done to reform
these behaviors. First and most effective act is to eat healthier foods and
escalate physical activities which significantly can reduce the chances of type
B diabetes. In order to come up with better and more effective solutions,
Doctor2U with the help of University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus have come up
with the new features for Doctor2U application which are explained in details
below.

1) First feature is called Electronic Medical Records (EMR) which
have been already existed in the application, but the new feature is to save
all the records of diabetic patients in one single platform with
confidentiality which allows the patients to see and compare their previous
records with the newest ones. This can help a lots of diabetes patients to keep
track of their condition day by day, week by week and year by year.

2) Second feature is developing a system inside the application
which allows diabetic patients to scan their tongue and retina and the
application will estimate your body glucose level and will provide suggestions
to overcome and control the shown glucose level. This is a huge development for
medical aspects since it can show estimated blood sugar of patient without
giving any test and providing suggestions without visiting any doctor to check
that. Although these scanning results can be shared to your preferred doctor.

3) Thirdly we introduce the food scanning feature. This element
will provide estimated glucose level of a meal of yours with just taking a
picture of it. With this feature all patient from any location can understand
the amount of energy and glucose of their meals and can control it based on
their health condition. Furthermore, this feature has been suggested
specifically for diabetic patients who requires to keep track of their meal’s
glucose and energy level according to their diets.

 

Impact of new features on Doctor2U and Malaysian society

Based on the above statistics, the number of people who are
diagnosed with diabetic is growing every year across Malaysia which is mostly
because of having unhealthy diets and physical inactivity along with lack of
regular checkups. The Doctor2U application has solved the problem of distance
and monitoring unhealthy diet for their patients. These new features of the app
will allow Malaysians who are concerning about controlling their diets to
prevent increases in their blood glucose level to have an estimation of the
amount of calories and sugar existed in their meals, so with this new
innovation every Malaysians can have a healthy and organized diet. However,
there is a direct impact on Doctor2U as well regarding this feature which is
encouraging them to apply similar new feature to the application which allows
their patient to keep track of their health condition by examining their foods
to try eating healthier. Furthermore, tongue and retina scanning feature will
allow all diabetic patients to understand and educate themselves about their
current health situation with providing them the option of sharing their scans
with their preferred doctors while there are not interacting presently. This will
save so much time and costs for both parties (patients and doctors) while they
can help to improve the health condition of the patient. On the other hand,
Doctor2U is able to increase their efficiency by providing faster and portable
services to all Malaysians across the country. Additionally, one of the most crucial
feature is the Electronic Medical Record that is keeping all patients medical
records with duty of confidentiality in one single platform. This platform is
also enabling patients to have an access to their old and new health tests with
their results which allows them to compare different stages of their condition.

Lastly, the greatest impact of this platform for Doctor2U is that
they are no longer require to provide records for their patients in physical
paper reports which can help to reduce lots of costs and time for their service
provider departments with a much better performance and effectiveness.