The Journal of Nurse Practitioners
 

Dixie Harms, DNP - Figure 4

Complications of Diabetes

For healthcare providers, one of the biggest goals of treatment is trying to prevent the complications of diabetes:

  • The leading cause of new onset blindness in adults aged 20–74 is diabetes.
  • 60% of non-traumatic limb amputations occur in people with diabetes
  • >65,000 non-traumatic limb amputations are performed every year in the United States, which averages out to be 180 amputations per day.

In addition: 

  • Risk for stroke is 2 to 4 times higher in persons with diabetes;
  • 60% of patients with diabetes also have hypertension;
  • Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure;
  • 60-70% of persons with diabetes have nervous system damage.

    Harms D. J Nurse Pract. 2014; 00:00 – 00.

References

[2]

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes Fact Sheet: National estimates and general information on diabetes and prediabetes in the United States, 2011. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011. http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics/#Complications  Accessed May 30, 2014.