According to a major international study which analyzed global data on diabetes since 1980, the prevalence of diabetes has gone up or at best remained unchanged in every part of the world for the last 30 years. The number of people with the disease has more than doubled during that period to 347 million adults. The increase can be attributed to population growth, aging, and to an overall higher prevalence.
According to a major international study which analyzed global data on diabetes since 1980, the prevalence of diabetes has gone up or at best remained unchanged in every part of the world for the last 30 years. The number of people with the disease has more than doubled during that period to 347 million adults. The increase can be attributed to population growth, aging, and to an overall higher prevalence.
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Diabetes is a metabolic disease where a person has high blood sugar due to the body's inability to produce enough insulin or because the cells do not respond to insulin. High blood sugar can cause a number of troubling complications including hypoglycemia and cardiovascular diseases. Since medicinal insulin became available in 1921, diabetes has been treatable and people can still live healthy functional lives.
The new study, published in the journal, The Lancet, found the worldwide population with diabetes went up from 153 million to 347 million between 1980 and 2008. Researchers found that thirty percent of the rise is due to increased prevalence. As of 2008, 9.8 percent of men and 9.2 percent of women have the disease. These numbers are a significant increase from a previous study in 2009 which put the worldwide number at only 285 million.
This study is the largest of its kind for diabetes. It was led by Prof. Majid Ezzati from the Imperial College London and Dr. Goodarz Danaei from Harvard. It was conducted with support from the World Health Organization and other institutions.
Prof. Ezzati stated, "Diabetes is one of the biggest causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Our study has shown that diabetes is becoming more common almost everywhere in the world. This is in contrast to blood pressure and cholesterol, which have both fallen in many regions. Diabetes is much harder to prevent and treat than these other conditions."
Dr. Danaei added, "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."
Notable findings from the study include the following:
- Pacific Island nations now have the highest rates of diabetes in the world. In the Marshall Islands, a third of all women and a fourth of all men have it
- Among high-income nations, USA and Canada had the highest rates and Western Europe had the lowest
- Of the 347 million worldwide with diabetes, 138 million are in China and India, and 36 million are in USA and Russia
- The region with the lowest rates are sub-Saharan Africa followed by east and southeast Asia
The study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization.
Link to published article: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2811%2960679-X/fulltext
