Reuters – The number of adults with diabetes has quadrupled worldwide in under four decades to 422 million, and the condition is fast becoming a major problem in poorer countries, a World Health Organization study released on Wednesday (April 6) showed.
In one of the largest studies to date of diabetes trends, the researchers said ageing populations and rising levels of obesity across the world mean diabetes is becoming “a defining issue for global public health”.
The World Health Organisation (W.H.O) Director of noncommunicable diseases Dr. Etienne Krug said diabetes has risen four-fold since 1980s.
Type 2 diabetes is a long-term condition characterized by insulin resistance. Patients can manage their diabetes with medication and diet, but the disease is often life-long and is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.
“People with diabetes are more at risk of several types of complications: heart attacks, stroke, visual impairment, amputations and premature deaths. This should not be. Through healthier eating, more physical activity, we could prevent most of these cases of diabetes — and by ensuring early detection and access to treatment for those who have diabetes, we could reduce complications and premature mortality. This report is a call to action to halt the rise in diabetes,” he said.
Published in The Lancet journal ahead of the United Nations World Health Day on April 7, the study used data from 4.4 million adults in different world regions to estimate age-adjusted diabetes prevalence for 200 countries.
It found that between 1980 and 2014, diabetes has become more common among men than women, and rates of diabetes rose significantly in many low and middle income countries, including China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Mexico.
The WHO said the findings showed an urgent need to address unhealthy diets and lifetsyles around the world.
“Through healthier eating, more physical activity, we could prevent most of these cases of diabetes — and by ensuring early detection and access to treatment for those who have diabetes, we could reduce complications and premature mortality. This report is a call to action to halt the rise in diabetes,” Krug also said.
The study found that half of adults with diabetes in 2014 lived in five countries – China, India, the United States Brazil and Indonesia. Rates more than doubled for men in India and China between 1980 and 2014.
The data also showed that northwestern Europe has the lowest rates of diabetes among women and men, with age-adjusted prevalence lower than 4 percent among women and at around 5 to 6 percent among men in Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands.
No country saw any meaningful decrease in diabetes prevalence, it found.
The largest increases in diabetes rates were in Pacific island nations, followed by the Middle East and North Africa, in countries like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Ahead of this year’s World Health Day, marked 7 April, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its first ever Global report on diabetes drawing attention to “a huge rise in the number of adults affected by diabetes.” WHO
Since 1980, number of people with diabetes almost quadrupled; from 108 million in the 1980s, to 422 million today.
The report also says that while in the past the highest rates of diabetes were found in developed countries, those countries now have the lowest rates, and the most of the rise is in developing countries.
The WHO said the rise of number of people with diabetes in developing countries “has dramatic consequences, because people with diabetes are more at risk of several types of complications: heart attack, stroke, visual impairment, amputations and premature deaths.”
Dr Etienne Krug, Director, Department for Management of NCDs, Disability, Violence of WHO said that “this report is a call to action to halt the rise in diabetes.”
He said “Through healthier eating, more physical activity, we could prevent most of these cases of diabetes — and by ensuring early detection and access to treatment for those who have diabetes, we could reduce complications and premature mortality.”
Dr Krug also underlined that “Global leaders around the world have committed to halt the rise in diabetes and to reduce the numbers of deaths from non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, by 30% by 2030. If this is to happen, we need more action and we need it now.”
The first WHO Global report on diabetes details the scale of the diabetes epidemic globally, and in regions. Individual country profiles are also available with information on the number of people living with diabetes, available services and other material by country. Show less