|
THE TYPE 2 DIABETES PANDEMICThe latest predictions on the explosion of Type 2 Diabetes cases where Asia and Africa are likely to see the largest increases in the number of cases.
ECONOMIC IMPACT2.8 million people, approximately 4 % of the UK population have Diabetes. The overwhelming majority have Type 2 diabetes. The NHS spends approximately 1 biilion pounds on year, almost 20% patient of it annual budget on managing patients with diabetes and their complications. It is has been shown that being diagnosed with Diabetes can reduce your life expectancy by anywhere between 5-10 years due to complications relating to the disease. With numbers of patients being daignosed with Type 2 diabetes increasing alarmingly each year. The expenditure is likely to increase further unless preventative measures take effect.
|
A major international study collating and analysing worldwide data on diabetes since 1980 has found that the number of adults with the disease reached 347 million in 2008, more than double the number in 1980. The research, published in The Lancet, reveals that the prevalence of diabetes has risen or at best remained unchanged in virtually every part of the world over the last three decades.
Between 1980 and 2008, the number of adults with diabetes rose from 153 million to 347 million. Seventy per cent of the rise was due to population growth and ageing, with the other 30 per cent due to higher prevalence. The proportion of adults with diabetes rose to 9.8 per cent of men and 9.2 percent of women in 2008, compared with 8.3 per cent of men and 7.5 percent of women in 1980. Diabetes has taken off most dramatically in Pacific Island nations, which now have the highest diabetes levels in the world. In the Marshall Islands, 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. |