Diabetes is a metabolic disease that affects the way insulin is produced and used to control blood sugar levels. Over time, the body loses its ability to produce enough insulin to maintain a normal, healthy level, which can eventually lead to heart disease, kidney disease, nerve and small blood vessel damage, and stroke.
Type 2 diabetes is more common in adults who are overweight and have a family history of the disease. Although diabetes can develop in both men and women and the symptoms tend to be about the same, it can affect women differently than men.
Women with diabetes may have:
- Higher risk of heart disease
- Lower survival rates and poorer quality of life after heart attack
- Higher risk of blindness
- Higher risk of depression, which raises the risk of diabetes
- Higher risk of urinary infections
However, men are more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes than women.
Symptoms in both men and women:
- Increased thirst and hunger
- Fatigue
- Unexplained changes in weight
- Blurred vision
- Frequent urination
- Slow healing wounds
- Nausea
- Skin infection or patches of darker skin
- Irritability
- Reduced feeling in hands or feet
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