- Diabetes Management
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by tmi
A new study that was carried out in seven developed and developing countries showed that poor diagnosis and ineffective treatment of diabetes have laid millions of people worldwide at risk of disabilities and early death from diabetes and its related illnesses such as heart disease, blindness, chronic kidney disease and diabetic foot that might require amputations.
The new research, the results of which were published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, examined diabetes diagnosis, treatment, and management in Colombia, England, Iran, Mexico, Scotland, Thailand, and the US.
Among the studied countries, Mexico showed the highest prevalence of diabetes, with 24 percent of men and 21 percent of women over the age of 35, while England and Scotland had the lowest prevalence.
However, the findings indicated that there was no association between a country’s relative wealth and the standard of diagnosis or treatment it provides for diabetic patients, wrote scientists from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
“Too many people are not being properly diagnosed with diabetes and related cardiovascular risk factors. Those who are diagnosed aren’t being effectively treated,” said study author Dr. Stephen Lim.
“This is a huge missed opportunity to lower the burden of disease in both rich and poor countries.”
The findings showed that in the US, nearly 90 percent of adult diabetics, or more than 16 million adults aged 35 and older, fail to meet widely accepted targets for healthy levels of blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol while the rate of those failing to meet the targets includes 99 percent of adult diabetics.
In Thailand, up to 62 percent or more than 663,000 men surveyed were either undiagnosed or untreated for diabetes.
Personal wealth and education were not a significant factor in the rate of diagnosis and treatment in any of the countries except in Thailand while enjoying health insurance had a notable influence.
“In countries where we had information on health insurance, it actually played a significant role in getting diagnosed and effectively treated for diabetes,” said Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate, about 280 million people, or 6.4 percent of the world’s population, are suffering from Type 2 diabetes.
“The cost of leaving individuals with diabetes untreated in the future will be huge, and a lot of the costs could be averted by better management of the health risks of these individuals,” warned Gakidou.