Diabetes crisis worse than thought: 347 million adult sufferers

(From PharmaTimes)  A major international study has been published inThe Lancet which reveals the scale of global diabetes epidemic, with the disease becoming more common almost everywhere in the world.

The study, which was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organisation, took worldwide data on diabetes since 1980 and found that the number of adults with the disease reached 347 million in 2008. This is more than double the number in 1980 and way up on a previous study in 2009 which put the number worldwide at 285 million.

The results, which revealed that high blood glucose and diabetes are responsible for over three million deaths worldwide each year, show that 70% of the rise was due to population growth and ageing, with the other 30% due to higher prevalence. The proportion of adults with diabetes rose to 9.8% of men and 9.2% of women in 2008, compared with 8.3% and 7.5% in 1980.

The study was co-led by Majid Ezzati from Imperial College London and Goodarz Danaei from the Harvard School of Public Health. Prof Ezzati noted that diabetes “is becoming more common almost everywhere in the world”, which is in contrast to blood pressure and cholesterol, which have both fallen in many regions. Dr Danaei added that “unless we develop better programmes for detecting people with elevated blood sugar and helping them to improve their diet and physical activity and control their weight, diabetes will inevitably continue to impose a major burden on health systems around the world.”

 2.7 million study participants

The study included blood sugar measurements from 2.7 million participants aged 25 or more across the world. It found that diabetes has taken off most dramatically in Pacific Island nations, which now have the highest diabetes levels in the world.

In the Marshall Islands, for example, a staggering one in three women and one in four men have diabetes. Glucose and diabetes were also particularly high in south Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.

However, the rise in diabetes was relatively small in western Europe and highest in North America. Off the richer nations, diabetes and glucose levels were highest in the USA, Greenland, Malta, New Zealand and Spain, and lowest in the Netherlands, Austria and France.

Of the aforementioned 347 million people with diabetes, 138 million live in China and India and another 36 million in the USA and Russia. The region with the lowest glucose levels was sub-Saharan Africa, followed by east and southeast Asia.

CDC estimates 1 in 3 adults could have diabetes by 2050

As many as 1 in 3 U.S. adults could have diabetes by 2050 if current trends continue, according to a new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One in 10 U.S. adults has diabetes now. The prevalence is expected to rise sharply over the next 40 years due to an aging population more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, increases in minority groups that are at high risk for type 2 diabetes, and people with diabetes living longer, according to CDC projections published in the journal Population Health Metrics.

Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in 2007, and is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults under age 75, kidney failure, and non-accident/injury leg and foot amputations among adults. People with diagnosed diabetes have medical costs that are more than twice that of those without the disease. The total costs of diabetes are an estimated $174 billion annually, including $116 billion in direct medical costs.

Proper diet and physical activity can reduce the risk of diabetes and help to control the condition in people with diabetes. Effective prevention programs directed at groups at high risk of type 2 diabetes can considerably reduce future increases in diabetes prevalence, but will not eliminate them, the report says.

The projection that one-third of all U.S. adults will have diabetes by 2050 assumes that recent increases in new cases of diabetes will continue and people with diabetes will also live longer, which adds to the total number of people with the disease.

An estimated 285 million people worldwide had diabetes in 2010, according to the International Diabetes Federation. The federation predicts as many as 438 million will have diabetes by 2030.

Canada launches one of world’s largest health studies to gain insight into disease prevention and management

The largest population-based health study ever conducted in North America was launched this past month in an effort to help better understand the causes, prevention and treatment of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, asthma, and diabetes.

The Ontario Health Study (OHS) will be the biggest community-based health study ever done in Ontario and is also part of the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project, made up of five regional health studies across the country.

Medical researchers at universities, research institutes and hospitals across Ontario are conducting this study. The governments of Ontario and Canada are funding the Study.

The Study began with an initial phase in which more than 8,000 adults living in three communities in Ontario took part. The main phase of the Study has begun, and is now open to all residents of Ontario who are at least 18 years old.

Altogether, aggregate data from hundreds of thousands of Canadians over time will help build one of the world’s largest profiles of risk factors for diseases.

Source:  World Health Advocacy.