Some shocking statistics in The Times today about the continued rise in diabetes, which I thought worth sharing:
The number of people who will die as a result of diabetes is forecast to rise from one in ten to one in seven in less than 20 years unless obesity rates can be reduced significantly.
Costs to the National Health Service of treating the disease are expected to rise by a third by 2025 as the number of people suffering from diabetes reaches a record level. Patients needing treatment for conditions linked to diabetes already cost the NHS £9 billion annually, and the figure is forecast to rise to £12 billion, before inflation, by 2025.
Figures released by Diabetes UK, which represents patients, suggest that life expectancy in Britain will start falling for the first time in two centuries because of the rise in the disease. The organisation calculated yesterday that the 10 per cent of deaths linked to diabetes today will rise to 14 per cent by 2025 if trends are left unchecked.
The number of new patients rose by 167,000 in 2007-08, more than double the 83,000 in the previous year, and the total with the disease is expected to rise from 2.5 million today to 4 million in 2025, putting extra pressure on the NHS.
The rise in new diagnoses was attributed in part to better detection rates but mainly to obesity, which is recognised as one of the prime causes of type 2 diabetes. Doug Naysmith, a senior member of the House of Commons Health Select Committee, said that the rise had long been forecast, yet action promised by the Government to tackle the problem was “very slow” in being realised. “Progress is very slow. It’s something the Health Select Committee is concerned about and we need to try to make sure progress speeds up,” said Dr Naysmith, the Labour MP for Bristol North West. “The Health Select Committee produced a report on obesity three or four years ago, which predicted there was going to be a massive increase in type 2 diabetes. It’s just coming about.”
Sandra Gidley, the Liberal Democrat MP on the select committee, called for a national campaign to make people better aware of the risks and causes of diabetes and the changes in lifestyle, such as healthy eating and exercise, that can help to control it. She said that if people were made aware of – and listened to – health messages, they would be less likely to get diabetes.
“If people start following the advice it’s not just diabetes they’d be less likely to get,” she said. “It protects against heart conditions and cancer – it’s a no-brainer really.”
Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said: “Being seriously overweight hugely increases the risk of diabetes.
“We are now seeing an alarming number of young people developing type 2 diabetes; unless people adopt a healthier lifestyle these numbers will only get worse.”
Diabetes UK said it was concerned that the level of treatment that diabetes patients received varied depending on which primary care trust area they lived in. It is particularly concerned about the effectiveness of a screening programme designed to spot retinopathy, an eye condition suffered by 40 per cent of diabetes patients, early enough for treatment to be effective.
In 5 per cent of cases it leads to severe sight impairment or blindness. Every diabetes patient is supposed to be offered screening for retinopathy once a year, but the take-up rate varies wildly between primary care trusts. Some trusts boast a 100 per cent take-up rate, but there are others that, according to figures from the Department of Health, have managed to get less than 50 per cent of their patients tested. The number of people responding to invitations for an annual test rose slightly last year, but almost a third still miss out. Maria Lam, of Diabetes UK, said: “The NHS is already struggling. There is already a crisis going on. Not all people with diabetes have the same access to care. But a lot of the diabetes complications could be avoided or minimised. It’s to do with management. A lot of it is short-sightedness. It’s very important to have the specialist care they require. Waiting times and treatment postponements are among the prime factors in the condition worsening in patients and ending up costing the NHS more than if they had been treated earlier.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “The number of people with diabetes is increasing, partly because of our ageing population and partly because of an increase in levels of obesity. However, the NHS is getting better and better at identifying diabetes.”
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