Diabetes mellitus is a disease caused by a long-term increase in blood glucose (sugar) levels. If diabetes is not adequately treated, elevated glycaemia levels lead to serious complications, especially increased risk of cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke), reduced life expectancy, and damage to eyesight, nerves and kidneys.
The most common type of diabetes is type 2 diabetes, which typically occurs in middle and older age and is associated with unhealthy lifestyle, obesity, arterial hypertension and impaired lipid metabolism. In the Czech Republic, diabetes currently affects almost 10% of the population. The cost of its treatment accounts for 15-20% of total health care costs, of which two-thirds is spent on the treatment of chronic complications.A number of factors are involved in the development of the disease, not all of which can be addressed by the current range of drugs.
Therefore, despite significant advances in the treatment of diabetes, a significant proportion of patients still suffer from numerous chronic complications. It is therefore necessary to continue to work on the development of new drugs that can not only improve diabetes, but also optimally reduce weight and influence chronic complications of diabetes and associated diseases.
dana.hruskova@ikem.cz
