|
 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".
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.
"Obesity is the most important risk factor for type 2 diabetes and
our attempts to control rising rates of obesity have so far not
proved successful," said Majid Ezzati, a professor at Imperial
College London who led the WHO research.
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.
Margaret Chan, the WHO's director-general, said the findings showed
an urgent need to address unhealthy diets and lifestyles around the
world.
"If we are to make any headway in halting the rise in diabetes, we
need to rethink our daily lives: to eat healthily, be physically
active, and avoid excessive weight gain," she said in a statement
from the WHO's Geneva headquarters.
"Even in the poorest settings, governments must ensure that people
are able to make these healthy choices and that health systems are
able to diagnose and treat people with diabetes."
[to top of second column] |
The study found 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.
The data also showed 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.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
