The number of people being diagnosed with diabetes in the UK is sharply rising, as the health service struggles to cope with the strain. For the first time in two hundred years, the life expectancy of a diabetic is expected to fall. A report published today shows that cases have doubled in the last 12 months with GP’s diagnosing an extra 167,000 patients compared to just 83,000 last year.
This brings the total number of people suffering from diabetes in the UK to a staggering 2.5 million. And this is just the official figure - another 500,000 are thought to be undiagnosed. A diabetic can expect to live ten years less than average and could have problems with circulatory conditions and blindness.
So, what factor is to blame for this uncharacteristic increase? Not surprisingly, it is lifestyle - namely obesity. Figures from Diabetes UK show a shocking 5 million people are registered as obese - that is an extra 200,000 than last year. It is predicted that by 2010 an extra one million people will be diagnosed with the condition.
The increase can however also be put down to better screening as well as there genuinely being more patients. Professor Sir George Alberti, a Government adviser and former head of the International Diabetes Federation says,
“It is a clarion call for society to take this seriously. The catastrophe has started to happen. The Government has begun to tackle obesity and inactivity but converting good words into action is very difficult. It will take ages to have an effect.”
In 2005 the number of diabetes related deaths was at 33,000, however, the World Health Organisation warns this could rise to 41,000 by 2015. However Professor Albertis feels this is a moderate figure and does not account for the 80% of patients who die from heart attacks or the 1,000 who cope with failing kidneys each year,
“The WHO figure [for deaths] was very conservative,” he said. “Large numbers die from heart disease and strokes [linked with diabetes] and they do not include those.”
Diabetes is reaching all corners of the world due to urban development and the embrace of western cultures (MacDonalds anyone?). The statistics are on a par with AIDS related deaths with 2.9 million people dying from the condition in 2000, but unlike AIDS it had very little public profile. In 2000 a total of 170 million were suffering from diabetes, but that figure looks to soar to 370 million in the next 12 years, bringing the onset of a blindness epidemic and loss of limbs.
Experts are saying that the increase in diabetes and other chronic diseases brought on by obesity will be responsible for lowering the average life expectancy. Jay Olshansky and his colleagues at the University of Illinois record their views in the Journal of Medicine in 2004, predicting in the next few decades people can expect to live five years less.
The chief executive of Diabetes UK, Douglas Smallwood comments,
“These are truly alarming figures. Part of why we have seen such a huge increase can be attributed to improved screening from healthcare services and greater awareness amongst those at high risk of type 2 diabetes. However, there is no getting away from the fact that this large increase is linked to the obesity crisis.
“Diabetes is one of the biggest health challenges facing the UK. It causes heart disease, stroke, amputations, kidney failure and blindness and more deaths than breast and prostate cancer combined. The NHS already spends £1m an hour on diabetes. The soaring diabetes prevalence will continue to put a massive strain on an already struggling NHS and, unless it can respond, people’s health could spiral downwards. We need to do all we can to raise awareness of the seriousness of diabetes and help people understand how a healthy lifestyle can help reduce their risk.”
