Category: Advancing Modules

• https://www.chss.org.uk/chss-publications-dvds-and-resources/
• http://www.stroke.org.uk/
• http://www.diabetes.org.uk/
• http://www.eso-stroke.org/

For information about diabetes and stroke, please see the Advancing Module ‘Physiological monitoring following stroke’.

• 80-85% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight
• Being overweight reduces the body’s ability to respond to insulin, so called ‘insulin resistance’
• Those at greatest risk:
  • Women > 80 cm (31.5 inches).
  • Men > 94cm (37 inches)
  • South Asia, African-Caribbean Men > 90cm (35.5 inches)

• 1 in 3 non diabetics will have an increased glucose during their acute stroke
• Diabetes is an independent risk factor for ischaemic stroke; the risk of having a stroke is 2-3 x higher in people with diabetes
• Research on animals show that preventing hyperglycaemia reduces ischaemic damage in stroke
• Long term outcomes such as functional recovery and 5 year mortality are poorer in those with diabetes
• Risk factors for developing diabetes include obesity, family history, lack of physical activity, being of Afro-Caribbean or South Asian origin
• Type II diabetes carries a higher risk of stroke than Type I diabetes because of a greater frequency of other risk factors such as obesity, hyperlipidaemia and hypertension

Introduction to diabetes

To diagnose diabetes accurately one needs to understand the glucose levels that are associated with impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes as shown in the diagrams: