What is Juvenile diabetes (Sotomayor has had it since age 8)

Every hour of every day, someone is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, the most severe form of a disease that annually accounts for more than $100 billion in health care costs in the U.S. alone. Usually striking before the age of 30, type 1 diabetes takes a harsh toll on people. Not only will they be insulin-dependent for life, but devastating life-limiting and life-shortening complications such as blindness, amputation, heart disease and stroke, and kidney failure are an ever-present threat. Insulin is not a cure for the disease—it is merely life support.

Type 1 diabetes is destructive both to children and to childhood. Controlling the disease requires 24/7/365 vigilance and imposes a grueling regimen. It includes eating a carefully calculated diet, checking blood glucose levels several times each day (by lancing a finger) and insulin injections—as many as six per day—or delivery of insulin through a pump just to stay alive. It means children and families living by the clock, day and night, for the rest of their lives—lives that turn out to average about 15 years less than normal.

You can't outgrow type 1 diabetes. As JDRF International Chairman Mary Tyler Moore has said, "Diabetes is an all too personal time bomb which can go off today, tomorrow, next year, or ten years from now—a time bomb affecting millions...one which must be defused." The only solution is a cure. That's why JDRF has a singular mission: to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research as soon as possible.

If Sotomayor is obese, that's unusual for type I diabetics. Mary Tyler Moore is representative for their body type, i.e. on the slim side.

Greater Risk Identified Between Diabetes and Heart Disease: Awareness Is Key

Diabetics are at higher risk of heart disease
Even prior to diagnosis, cardiovascular risk is high
Assessing readily-available clinical variables may help determine future risk
Which comes first: diabetes or microvascular disease?
Some diabetes treatments may increase cardiovascular risk
Clinicians are spreading the word, but patients may not be listening
The right foods and a few drinks may add up to a prevention strategy
According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), there are approximately 17 million people in the United States who have diabetes, a condition in which the body is unable to produce enough insulin to properly convert glucose into energy. Early-onset diabetes, or type 1 diabetes, is genetically determined and affects a small minority of these patients. Far more prevalent, affecting > 90% of the diabetic population, adult-onset, or type 2, diabetes usually develops in adults over the age of 45 and is most common among adults over age 65 (Figure).
In 1999, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that 450,000 annual deaths occurred among the diabetic population, a figure representing about 19% of all deaths that year in the United States. Adults with diabetes have heart disease death rates 2 to 4 times higher than those without diabetes. Finally, the increased risk of death and mortality rates associated with diabetes are compounded by the fact that many diabetic individuals are unaware that they suffer from the metabolic disorder.
Diabetes has garnered even more attention recently, particularly with the emergence of new data indicating that the risk of cardiovascular disease events in diabetics may be higher than once suspected. Recognizing its increased incidence and prevalence, researchers have focused on examining the correlation between diabetes and cardiovascular risk, ways to combat the disease, and a means by which to educate the public regarding the devastating effects of the disease.
Diabetes and Heart Disease: More Data Show Greater Correlation of Risk
At every turn, cardiovascular disease -- especially cardiovascular mortality -- stalks the diabetic patient. When matching diabetic to nondiabetic patients in heart disease trials, diabetic patients have always fared worse. This was illustrated by researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute (Durham, North Carolina), who performed a posthoc analysis of data from the ill-fated Sibrafiban vs Aspirin to Yield Maximum Protection from Ischemic Heart Events Post Acute Coronary Syndromes I and II (SYMPHONY I and II) "super aspirin" trials (sibrafiban vs aspirin). Presented at this year's 51st Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology,[3] the Duke team discovered that when all cardiovascular risk factors are equal, the mortality rate among diabetic patients was more than twice that of nondiabetic persons. In fact, diabetic subjects fared worse at every end point than their nondiabetic counterparts.
In their analysis, the Duke researchers noted that mortality risk appears to correlate directly with choice of therapy for diabetes. They found that there was a 2.6-fold increased risk of death for patients taking injected insulin and sulfonylurea drugs, compared with insulin-sensitizing therapies, such as metformin. In addition, they found that at 90 days into the trials, 12% of diabetic patients on insulin-providing therapy had a major adverse event, compared with 5% of diabetic patients on insulin-sensitizing therapy. The researchers said such findings suggest that lowering glucose does not translate into lowering cardiovascular risk and that elevated blood sugar levels may be a marker for, rather than a causative factor in, cardiovascular disease.
The diabetes-cardiovascular disease link is not "new" -- a comprehensive review published more than a year ago in Hypertension, Journal of the American Heart Association [4] presented evidence that diabetes is associated with a 7-fold increase in risk for developing cardiovascular disease. Coupled with other recent findings, the confirmed negative association between diabetes and cardiovascular disease, indicate that aggressive management of blood pressure is just as important as tight glycemic control.

FReepmail me if you want on or off the diabetes ping list.

If we have to be stuck with a moonbat that thinks reverse racism against whitey is OK, let it be Sotomayor.

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