By Kirsten Whittaker
Sobering news on the state of diabetes levels the world over. A study just published is calling attention to the missed opportunity to bring down the financial and personal burden of disease in all countries by properly diagnosing and treating a condition we hear about all the time - diabetes.
According to study researchers there are too many people being mis-diagnosed, or not being treated effectively, and not just in the U.S.
Doctor's tell us that diabetes is a chronic disease known for high levels of sugar being in the bloodstream that comes from one of three causes - not enough insulin, resistance to insulin, or both.
Today, diabetes is heading towards epidemic proportions with current estimates having 280 million people (6.4% of the world's population) living with it. Since overweight people have a well-recognized increased risk of diabetes, cases are expected to rise very quickly in the years to come as we are forced to deal with the very real health consequences of what's come to be called the current obesity epidemic.
The team of researchers used data from nationally representative surveys on health to look at diagnosis rates and treatment of diabetes in seven diverse countries including the U.S. Using a technique known as logistic regression, the experts examined socio-economic factors that determine diagnosis and effective management of this disease.
Disappointingly, there was plenty of undiagnosed and badly managed cases of diabetes to go around.
In the U.S. almost 90% of adult diabetics don't meet the recommended targets for healthy blood sugar levels, considered the cornerstone of proper diabetes management. In Mexico, the picture is far worse, 99% of adult diabetics aren't at the right numbers. In Thailand, almost 62% of men surveyed were either not diagnosed or not treated for diabetes.
The cost of not treating your condition properly is huge...
In terms of money and costs to you personally... the permanent loss of your sight, an emergency amputation or serious damage to your internal organs.
Of the diabetics in the research, the number of those meeting the recommended targets went from Mexico's paltry 1%, to the U.S. at a meager 12% of diabetic patients doing all they can to keep their bodies healthy.
Interesting that personal wealth and level of education weren't a big factor in the equation... except in Thailand. In most places it appears to come down to health insurance coverage, as opposed to personal wealth, in terms of who gets the right type of care. The effect was most obvious in the U.S., where adult diabetics covered by health insurance were two times more likely to have received a diagnosis and be undergoing treatment compared to those without insurance. This alone suggests that millions of diabetics are undiagnosed or not getting treatment to help them avoid some of the most serious complications of this disease - heart disease, loss of sight, kidney disease and amputations.
In October 2010 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control projected that as many as a third of American adults could be dealing with high diabetes levels by the year 2050 if we continue on as we have been. Overeating. Not exercising on a regular basis. Not caring about what we put into our bodies, and what it might be doing to us.
Sobering news on the state of diabetes levels the world over. A study just published is calling attention to the missed opportunity to bring down the financial and personal burden of disease in all countries by properly diagnosing and treating a condition we hear about all the time - diabetes.
According to study researchers there are too many people being mis-diagnosed, or not being treated effectively, and not just in the U.S.
Doctor's tell us that diabetes is a chronic disease known for high levels of sugar being in the bloodstream that comes from one of three causes - not enough insulin, resistance to insulin, or both.
Today, diabetes is heading towards epidemic proportions with current estimates having 280 million people (6.4% of the world's population) living with it. Since overweight people have a well-recognized increased risk of diabetes, cases are expected to rise very quickly in the years to come as we are forced to deal with the very real health consequences of what's come to be called the current obesity epidemic.
The team of researchers used data from nationally representative surveys on health to look at diagnosis rates and treatment of diabetes in seven diverse countries including the U.S. Using a technique known as logistic regression, the experts examined socio-economic factors that determine diagnosis and effective management of this disease.
Disappointingly, there was plenty of undiagnosed and badly managed cases of diabetes to go around.
In the U.S. almost 90% of adult diabetics don't meet the recommended targets for healthy blood sugar levels, considered the cornerstone of proper diabetes management. In Mexico, the picture is far worse, 99% of adult diabetics aren't at the right numbers. In Thailand, almost 62% of men surveyed were either not diagnosed or not treated for diabetes.
The cost of not treating your condition properly is huge...
In terms of money and costs to you personally... the permanent loss of your sight, an emergency amputation or serious damage to your internal organs.
Of the diabetics in the research, the number of those meeting the recommended targets went from Mexico's paltry 1%, to the U.S. at a meager 12% of diabetic patients doing all they can to keep their bodies healthy.
Interesting that personal wealth and level of education weren't a big factor in the equation... except in Thailand. In most places it appears to come down to health insurance coverage, as opposed to personal wealth, in terms of who gets the right type of care. The effect was most obvious in the U.S., where adult diabetics covered by health insurance were two times more likely to have received a diagnosis and be undergoing treatment compared to those without insurance. This alone suggests that millions of diabetics are undiagnosed or not getting treatment to help them avoid some of the most serious complications of this disease - heart disease, loss of sight, kidney disease and amputations.
In October 2010 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control projected that as many as a third of American adults could be dealing with high diabetes levels by the year 2050 if we continue on as we have been. Overeating. Not exercising on a regular basis. Not caring about what we put into our bodies, and what it might be doing to us.
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