Overall, the results are not surprising, says Kimberly Gudzune, MD, MPH, obesity medicine physician and affiliate faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “They highlight that people living with type 2 diabetes are looking to live healthy and happy lives, but having diabetes may make it challenging to meet these goals,” she says.
Type 2 diabetes can reduce a person’s life expectancy, which is why Dr. Gudzune says it “makes sense” that people living with the condition would favor a cure. “Type 2 diabetes may also impact the quality of life, so it’s not just a longer lifespan, but being able to enjoy the years that you have,” she says.
Jennifer Frediani, PhD, RD, agreed. “Having type 2 diabetes is life-changing,” said Dr. Frediani, who is a professor at the Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and a medical reviewer at Everyday Health. “Your life revolves around what you’ve eaten, what your exercise plan is, and when you’re taking your medications.”
She says that type 2 diabetes management can be “all you think about” for some patients, especially if they’re taking medications with a risk of uncomfortable side effects. “I get that people would choose a cure over something like a paid college education, which they may be able to figure out,” she says.
But Frediani points out that there are often different levels of concern in people with type 2 diabetes, reflected by some people preferring to sleep in on weekends versus having enough energy for those days. “There are some people that are going to do their best to prevent complications and then there are others that think, ‘That won’t happen to me,’” she says.
Still, a large number of respondents seemed focused on trying to improve their health. “Type 2 diabetes not only reduces life expectancy but increases a person’s risk of other health conditions such as heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease,” Gudzune says. “The survey results seem to suggest that people are aware of these risks and are concerned about their long-term health.”
