Diabetes Research
Diabetes is a common chronic disease. The prevalence of diabetes continues to increase rapidly worldwide, New Zealand is no exception, and will continue to grow without research dedicated to finding a cure.
Diabetes Research Projects
Detecting hyperglycemia in chronic liver disease using interstitial glucose monitoring
Status: Complete Year: 2020 Funded: $4,899 Grant Type: Grant in Aid
In the future, (interstitial) glucose monitoring technology might allow patients to have a small sensor inserted in their arm at clinic, then return the sensor by courier-post after two weeks of wear. This study will assess whether this technology can be used to diagnose diabetes, in patients with chronic liver disease.
Researcher // Associate Professor Helen Lunt – Canterbury District Health Board
Associate Professor Lunt is currently a Diabetes Physician at the Christchurch Diabetes Centre, a Clinical Director of the Health Innovation Hub at the Canterbury District Health Board, and a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Otago, Christchurch.
C-type natriuretic peptide: a potential marker of chronic kidney disease in diabetes
Status: Complete Year: 2018 Funded: $5,000 Grant Type: Grant in Aid
There is an urgent need for an early test for diabetic kidney disease enabling beneficial interventions before irreversible kidney damage occurs. A new test developed in Christchurch measures NTproCNP in urine, which increases when the kidneys are injured, and may prove to be a useful early marker of kidney injury.
Researcher // Associate Professor Helen Lunt – Canterbury District Health Board
Associate Professor Lunt is currently a Diabetes Physician at the Christchurch Diabetes Centre, a Clinical Director of the Health Innovation Hub at the Canterbury District Health Board, and a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Otago, Christchurch.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas is no longer able to make insulin, or when the body cannot make good use of the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas, that acts like a key to let glucose from the food we eat pass from the blood stream into the cells in the body to produce energy. All carbohydrate foods are broken down into glucose in the blood. Insulin helps glucose get into the cells.Not being able to produce insulin or use it effectively leads to raised glucose levels in the blood (known as hyperglycaemia). Over the long-term high glucose levels are associated with damage to the body and failure of various organs and tissues.
Global prevalence of diabetes among adults over 18 years in 2014.
It has been estimated that 2 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes in 2016.
The number of people with diabetes had risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014.
Diabetes was estimated as the seventh leading cause of death in 2016.