The effective prevention and management of diabetes are crucial in minimizing complications associated with the disease. Risks associated with the disease can be prevented by eating and living a healthy life, also through clinical interventions. However, at times, clinical interventions are not always successful as the healthcare providers find it challenging to treat diabetic patients because of misdiagnosis. Due to the current increase in obesity levels, health care specialists find it difficult to differentiate between type 2 diabetes that requires proper nutrition to type 1 diabetes that requires insulin injection. This created the need for a diagnostic tool to help doctors better identify and distinguish the two diabetic conditions. As such, this paper seeks to elaborate on a genetic test as an interventional strategy in the management of diabetes.
The genetic test devised by the Exeter team is capable of classifying diabetic patients to their types and so assist clinicians in administering the right treatment. This interventional strategy prevents unnecessary medical costs as people will unlikely pay for unnecessarily insulin treatments that do not benefit them in respect to their diabetes type. Consequently, this method prevents uncertainties of patient-nurse care since the occurrence of illnesses from wrong treatments will be rare. Not only does the genetic test identify the types of diabetes, but also acts as a screening tool for identifying children at high risk of Diabetes ( University of Exeter, 2015).
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The genetic test measures 30 genetic variants found in the DNA and then identifies and combines the present risks in each one of them to a single score. The score projects a person’s diabetes type, a low representing type 2 diabetes and a high score for the type 1 diabetes. The risk score, T1DGRS2, measure genetic elements that are responsible for developing the condition at early stages and collectively offer a diagnosis.
Type 1 diabetes progresses when the insulin-producing beta cells are attacked by the body’s own immune system of which develops before the symptoms of the condition appear. Ideally, by identifying an individual’s possibility of developing type 1 diabetes before it advances would help initiate an earlier clinical intervention and so the needed effectiveness. Compared to other diagnoses, the TIDGRS2 is better as it is relatively cheap and is very efficient in children. In addition, this genetic score can help identify infants at a high risk for diabetes which could consequence an enrollment of these children into prevention trials Research has evidently proven that 0.4% newborns are likely to develop pancreatic beta cells in early stages and later be diagnosed of type 1diabetes before they reach their adulthood. This shows that type 1 diabetes can be prevented at infancy and particularly during the development of autoimmunity.
As mentioned earlier, other screening methods are such as autoantibody testing are not cost-effective but this new genetic score is highly discriminative for the early onset of type 1 diabetes. A study done on generic scores showed that out of the total number of children under 6 years who had pre-symptomatic and symptomatic diabetes, 50% were identified by the score (Tucker, 2019). Since genetics accounts for the risks associated by the disease at a 40% etiology, then the genetic test is expected to be 60% accurate. Although obesity is a strong predictor of type 2 diabetes (T2D), this is not likely to be a predictor for children. Therefore, the intervention for preventing T2D in children will likely depend on the accuracy of risk predictors and specific genetic tests. Conclusively, genetics reveal the probability of one developing diabetes. However, one’s environment that entails nutrition and activity also determine the developed of this condition. At times, parents plan occasional visits to a primary care physician to check on a child’s health status. Common screening methods or biomarkers used are unlikely to show an onset of diabetes but rather at its progressive stage. This makes the genetic test and particularly the TIDGRS2 a suitable interventional strategy of detecting the onset entirely.
In the United States, nurses are well educated and skilled to work with genetic information across various aspects. They are the best and trusted health professionals in formulating necessary contributions to the fields of human genetics and work in hand with other health care providers to improve the general health of society. In this case, nurses are able to screen children and make a report on screenings to present to a physician for a further medical trial. Health care benefits considerably from genetic projects in the basis of disease risks like diabetes and the respective treatment response (Camak, 2016). Progress made in genomics or genetics is valid to an entire nursing profession and the rest of the spectrum of health care.
In the medical setting, identification of heritable risk begins with the nurse. However, in order for people to see the importance of genetic discoveries. Nurses are required to have a comprehensive knowledge of family histories and therefore identify a family with a history of diabetes. This means that the children from the family are likely to be at risk of developing diabetes and so a recommendation for their children to take a TIDGRS2. Since the condition is chronic, nurses are then continuously involved with future treatments and management. By using this genetic test in earlier identification of diabetes, there will be a future limited drug effect as the disease would be prevented.
Nursing research is needed to examine and verify the importance of this new diagnostic tool to both patient and family health care. Subsequently, genetic tests should be accepted in health organizations as they focus on both the diagnosis and prevention of diabetes. In conclusion, it is shown that TIDGRS2 is predictive for both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
References
Camak, D. J. (2016). Increasing importance of genetics in nursing. Nurse Education Today , 44 , 86-91.
Tucker, E. (2019). New genetic risk score may help detect type 1 diabetes. Medscape.
University of Exeter. (2015). Researchers devise new diabetes diagnostic tool. ScienceDaily .
