Background
Diabetes mellitus is a global problem worldwide, as evidenced by WHO data: today, about 425 million people have diabetes, or more than 6% of the world’s population (Khan et al., 2020). Metabolic disorders of multiple etiology, which are characterized by chronic hyperglycemia with impaired metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins as a result of impaired secretion or the action of insulin, leading to a host of other, more severe diseases: stroke, heart attack, and blindness (Chatterjee et al., 2017).
The statistics of the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus is constantly growing, and therefore this problem requires careful and multiple studies (Khan et al., 2020). The second type of diabetes mellitus is a disease that is earned due to an improper lifestyle. Therefore, this work examines the relationship between adherence to diet and lifestyle and the prognosis of diabetes.
This problem is considered on various planes, more often focusing on people of the same nationality. For example, alcoholism, smoking, and body mass index significantly influenced the prevalence of diabetes in Ugandans over 45 years of age (Asiimwe, 2020). A broader sample is offered by a study of residents of Chile, which is no longer tied to a specific age interval. According to the results of this study, which involved more than five thousand people, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle are the determinants of type 2 diabetes mellitus (Bertoglia, 2017).
The advantage of this study over the first is that the method uses a medical approach to determining the level of fasting glucose, while the dependences in the study of Ugandans were found using a questionnaire (Asiimwe, 2020; Bertoglia, 2017). These studies have weak differentiation within the samples, limited to one nationality, whose representatives, in theory, may have a predisposition. As a consequence, in these works, a deviation of the total statistical estimates from their true values can be observed as a result of a systematic deviation of the measurement results, in other words, a systematic sampling error.
Research with a broader range of races shows a similar relationship. In the work of Joseph et al., a multi-ethnic sample showed a relationship between high risks of diabetes mellitus and a sedentary lifestyle and low physical activity (2016). This study has the advantage of a more detailed approach to the quantitative interpretation of physical activity and the duration of observation. The assessment was also carried out using a questionnaire and only among adults (Joseph et al., 2016). Karimi et al. offer a broader age group in the sample, starting at 18 (2020). The diet proposed in the study was developed, taking into account modern scientific research and technology. The downside is that the bulk of interaction with the sample will be through surveys and the website, with no accurate monitoring of health indicators (Karimi et al., 2020).
Nevertheless, this program has several advantages. First, the acute social problem of budget constraints was chosen as the determinant of the start of the study. Research can only gain attention by meeting the demands of social responsibility. Second, the study uses evidence that unhealthy diets lead to type 2 diabetes, which is why their activities are aimed directly at the risk group (Karimi et al., 2020). Finally, this development draws on modern digital technologies that can facilitate data collection and help accumulate information for expert judgments. However, these data must be subject to empirical control and verification. As a consequence, in this work, a systematic error of the tendency of procedures, or imperfections of a method that allows empirical deviations, is allowed.
Supporters of a healthy lifestyle are almost always the doctors and nurses who treat type 2 diabetes. As a rule, in their competence, there is the knowledge that allows them to individually prescribe the appropriate diet to the patient and the requirements for physical activity. With the proven relationship between lifestyle and the possibility of developing diabetes, doctors are not always role models. A study in Nigeria aimed to assess the physical activity of healthcare workers associated with diabetes management (Ugwu et al., 2019). More than 70% did not meet the recommended World Health Organization targets for physical activity, which may call into question the professionalism of this personnel (Ugwu et al., 2019).
This study used a questionnaire as a data collection with a relatively small sample of no more than one and a half hundred people (Ugwu et al., 2019). As a consequence, this work is indicative of the critical aspect of demonstrating an example. Patients will be more willing to trust a doctor who looks after their health, nutrition, and physical activity, known by their example exactly how to prevent the possibility of a diabetes diagnosis.
The above studies work from different perspectives, using a variety of approaches to analyze different samples. A sedentary lifestyle, which often leads to obesity, is the cause of type 2 diabetes mellitus – on this issue, all the authors considered agree. The strengths of some studies also lie in sample size and statistically significant results. However, only one of them uses the medical approach to disease control; in the overwhelming majority, questionnaires are used, which are not supported by the empirical base. Only one offers specific recommendations for adherence to a diet and an appropriate lifestyle, backed up by scientific evidence. In other words, systematic sampling and observer errors are possible.
Consequently, this work aims to fill the gap in recommendations for healthy lifestyle choices and appropriate diets to prevent this type of diabetes. Approaches based on empirical methods of monitoring health indicators will increase the adequacy and accuracy of such studies, while the implementation of specific recommendations can be explicitly studied. In this regard, this study will have advantages, scientific strength, and practical significance.
Proposed Methods
The prospective study should use a quantitative design because results like these are easier to interpret. This study will be an experimental control and manipulation of variables and will include the collection of empirical data. As a result, a randomized controlled trial, as the main type of research, will study decrease the possibility of systematic diagnoses of type II diabetes mellitus when using prevention and treatment methods. Based on the research above, the choice of the population should be as diverse as possible to reduce the possibility of racial or national predisposition to disease or its symptoms.
The spread in age should also be taken from 18 to 65 years so that when interpreting the results, it would be possible to obtain an estimate for this parameter. The study will take place in two stages – at the first stage, instant indicators of physical activity and obesity will be monitored, nutrition will be recorded, and the level of fasting glycemia will be monitored. This control over these variables will be carried out iteratively, in particular, after a certain period after the implementation of specific recommendations on diet and physical activity in the lifestyle of the subjects. The sample should be no less than the most significant number among the reviewed articles – more than five thousand people. It is necessary to maintain the studies’ relevance with a shift in emphasis on different demographics and the application of the guidelines.
The input will be a variety of test subjects’ demographics and their instant health and physical activity scores, including body mass index and blood sugar. The output will be measured using all of the same metrics, while dynamics and attitudes will reflect the effectiveness of a particular recommendation after implementation in a group of subjects. Demographic data such as gender, age, and race will allow additional correlations to be found that may be susceptible to predisposition.
The duration of the study depends on the recommendations applied. According to the literature review above, it is necessary to track the effect of the diet for nine months; respectively, the same period will be applied to the dynamics of physical activity. An iterative approach to the alternate use of methods and recommendations for a healthy lifestyle will allow differentiating the causes of the dynamics. The actual numbers obtained will reflect the effectiveness of the recommendation, which will have practical application in the future.
The strengths of this study were identified through a literature review. These include empirically validated quantitative measures of health control as determinants of a healthy lifestyle and a multifaceted approach to sampling to exclude the possibility of predisposition. In addition, the use of specific recommendations and diets will be of great practical importance for the prevention of type II diabetes in the future. The weaknesses of this study reflect the difficulty of differentiating the sample: without strict determinants of selection by demographic indicators, statistical significance may suffer, and the likelihood of error increases. This problem can be partly solved by increasing the sample size, but this process will require high financial and time costs. This reason is another obstacle on the way to a straightforward solution to the problem.
Conclusion
The literature review showed that the problem of preventing type II diabetes mellitus is the lack of practical recommendations and studies to confirm their effectiveness. This paper proposes a theoretical study where demographics fade into the background to focus on an iterative approach with recommendations and diet. Applied value for medical practice and prevention was lacking in modern research, which was generally aimed at narrower tasks. However, there are some weaknesses in the proposed study, including the complexity of implementation, time costs, and a certain probability of error. However, if due attention is drawn to the problem and the experiment is refined in the future, the results will be crucially helpful.
References
Asiimwe, D., Mauti, G. O., & Kiconco, R. (2020). Prevalence and risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes in elderly patients aged 45-80 years at Kanungu District. Journal of Diabetes Research.
Bertoglia, M. P., Gormaz, J. G., Libuy, M., Sanhueza, D., Gajardo, A., Srur, A. & Erazo, M. (2017). The population impact of obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and tobacco and alcohol consumption on the prevalence of type 2 diabetes: Analysis of a health population survey in Chile. PloS one, 12(5), e0178092.
Chatterjee, S., Khunti, K., & Davies, M. J. (2017). Type 2 diabetes. The Lancet, 389(10085), 2239-2251.
Joseph, J. J., Echouffo-Tcheugui, J. B., Golden, S. H., Chen, H., Jenny, N. S., Carnethon, M. R. & Bertoni, A. G. (2016). Physical activity, sedentary behaviors and the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care, 4(1), e000185.
Karimi, N., Crawford, D., Opie, R., Maddison, R., O’Connell, S., Hamblin, P. S. & Ball, K. (2020). EatSmart, a Web-Based and Mobile Healthy Eating Intervention for Disadvantaged People with Type 2 Diabetes: Protocol for a Pilot Mixed Methods Intervention Study. JMIR Research Protocols, 9(11), e19488.
Khan, M. A. B., Hashim, M. J., King, J. K., Govender, R. D., Mustafa, H., & Al Kaabi, J. (2020). Epidemiology of type 2 diabetes–global burden of disease and forecasted trends. Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health, 10(1), 107.
Ugwu, E., Nnolim, B., Soyoye, D., Nkpozi, M., Ojobi, J., & Abonyi, M. (2019). Physical Activity and Sedentary Lifestyle among Diabetes Healthcare Providers in Nigeria: Time to Examine the Examiners. Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research, 13(10).