CAUSESAND MANAGEMENT OFDIABETESMELLITUS AMONG THE AGED IN SHAO

Diabetes mellitus is recognized as being a syndrome, a collection of disorders that have hyperglycaemia and glucose intolerance as their hallmark, due either to insulin deficiency or to the impaired effectiveness of insulin’s action, or to a combination of these. In order to understand diabetes it is necessary to understand the normal physiological process. Unfortunately, there is no cure for diabetes yet but by controlling blood sugar levelsthrough a healthydiet,exerciseand medication theriskof long- term diabetes complications can be decreased. Using the questionnaire asits instrument for data collection, this study investigated the causes and management of diabetes mellitus among the aged in Shao. Thefindings from the study suggested an increasing burden of diabetes mellitus among the elderly in Nigeria at large and in Shao particularly with many persons currently undiagnosed, and few known cases on treatment. The risingburden of diabetes has presented huge cost to individuals, society and the Nigerian government. The following were therefore recommended among others: thegovernment should developasystematicand comprehensiveplan to educate communities to address the considerable knowledge gap in the management of the diabetic patients in Nigeria, the social support system should be strengthened by arranging seminars, educating people in groups and using print and electronic media, the use of traditional medicines is ubiquitousbecauseofaffordability.Thegovernmentshouldtakeappropriate measures to reduce the price of diabetes drugs to improve accessibility and for long-term relief, the government should introduce training programmes or short-term courses to increase the number of dietitians, physiotherapists, and podiatrists as this will reduce the ratio of patients to doctors and increase the availability of health care.