The diabetes epidemic is actually worldwide. This was reported earlier this year:
Diabetes epidemic 'is here
and now,' experts warn
Developing countries to face 45% increase of
disease
By Maggie Fox / Reuter
HELSINKI, Finland -- Diabetes is becoming a global epidemic
that poses dangers for many developing countries, experts at a
conference on diabetes said Monday.
"I think we can truly say that the epidemic is here and now,"
said Paul Zimmett, chief executive officer of the International
Diabetes Institute.
"Unless we do something dramatic, I expect diabetes to be one
of the major killers in the world in the year 2010," said Jack
Jervell, president of the International Diabetes Federation
"Developing countries will bear the brunt of this epidemic."
Drug therapy for the illness has improved little since insulin
injections were developed in 1921 and the best hope was to
change the way people live, researchers said.
Diabetes affects at least 135 million people worldwide. By
2025, that number will reach 300 million, the World Health
Organization predicts.
The rate of diabetes will rise by 45 percent in developed
countries, but by 200 percent -- a tripling of the present rate -- in
developing countries, the diabetes federation says.
People who were not at risk before are now developing
diabetes, Zimmett said. While diabetes used to hit mostly those
over the age of 50, cases were becoming common among people
in their 20s and 30s.
Rates are soaring in populations that are suddenly becoming
modern and westernized, such as Australian aborigines, Pacific
islanders, native Americans and black children.
But the traditional medical approach of controlling diabetes with
a low-fat, low-sugar diet, moderate exercise, and careful
monitoring did not work with these new populations.
What to watch for
Diabetes kills by causing heart disease or kidney failure. If
untreated or poorly treated, diabetes can cause blindness or
vascular problems.
* Half of all people with diabetes do not even know they have it.
Symptoms are vague -- tiredness, thirst and a need to urinate
frequently are common as the body tries to flush away excess
blood sugar that builds up as the pancreas fails to produce insulin.
* Complications from diabetes kill 2.8 million people around the
world every year.
* 10 percent of victims have Type I, or insulin-dependent
diabetes, which often is genetic in origin. The rest have Type II, or
noninsulin-dependent diabetes. |
