Causes And Effects Of Diabetes Mellitus Among The Elderly

This study was carried out to examine the causes and effects of diabetes mellitus among the elderly in Nigeria using diabetics patients in FMC Asaba, Delta State as case study. The study was carried out to find out find out the prevalence of diabetes mellitus among the old populace in Nigeria, ascertain the causes of diabetes mellitus among the old populace in Nigeria, and determine the effect of  diabetes mellitus among the old populace in Nigeria. The survey design was adopted and the simple random sampling techniques were employed in this study.

The population size comprise of diabetics patients in FMC Asaba, Delta State. In determining the sample size, the researcher conveniently selected 41 respondents and 35 were validated. Self-constructed and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The collected and validated questionnaires were analyzed using frequency tables and mean scores. While the hypotheses were tested using Chi-square statistical tool. The result of the findings reveals that the prevalence of diabetes mellitus among the old populace in Nigeria is high.

The study also revealed that the causes of diabetes mellitus among the old populace in Nigeria includes: lack of physical exercise, insulin resistance, genes and family history, and hormonal diseases. Therefore, it is recommended that Public health strategies that targets the populace, emphasizing the dangers of consumption of junk foods as well as energy-dense foods from fast food centres; while underscoring the benefits of consumption of food with low glycaemic index such as high fiber diets, fruits and green leafy vegetables. Indiscriminate proliferation of fast food centres within our environment should be checked.  To mention but a few.