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Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body either does not make enough insulin or cannot use its own insulin as well as it should. This causes sugar to build up in your blood. Diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
- Browse Related Terms: Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC), Diabetes, Exposed, Hypertension, Hypertension Admissions, Invasive, mortality, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), Standard Precautions/Universal Precautions, Surgical incision site, The Joint Commission (TJC), Uncontrolled Diabetes Admissions