Healthcare Forecast Predicts 1 in 10 Will Have Diabetes by 2030
SUMMARY: Trends in healthcare make it possible to predict the burgeoning rate of diabetes around the world, with 1 in 10 adults doomed to suffer from the disease.
A new report by the International Diabetes Foundation is predicting that 1 in 10 adults worldwide will have diabetes by 2030. Today’s report by the foundation shows a burgeoning trend toward a higher rate of diabetes in the next two decades, changing the face of healthcare and taxing our already burdened healthcare systems.
Earlier this year the World Health Organization released its first annual “Global Status Report,” detailing non-communicable, chronic diseases worldwide. Similar statistics were found, and particularly noted the global increase in diabetes. According to WHO statistics, 347 million adults worldwide are living with diabetes, with the rate of global diabetes nearly doubling from 1980 to 2008. China weighed in with the largest number of citizens afflicted, with 138 million.
Professor of global environmental health at Imperial College London and lead author of the WHO study, Majid Ezzati, stated, “Diabetes is a long-lasting and disabling condition, and it’s going to be the largest cost for many health systems.” According to the American Diabetes Association, approximately $1 in $10 health care dollars is attributed to diabetes.
Gojka Roglic, head of WHO’s diabetes unit, said the projected future rise in diabetes cases is due to aging rather than the obesity epidemic. Most cases of diabetes are Type 2, the kind that mainly hits people in middle age, and is linked to weight gain and a sedentary lifestyle.
With type 2 diabetes, the body either does not produce enough insulin, or the body’s cells ignore the insulin. The body needs insulin in order to use glucose for energy. When food is consumed, sugars and starches are broken down into glucose to fuel the body’s cells, and insulin transfers it from the blood into the cells. A build-up of glucose in the blood that is not taken to the cells leads to diabetes complications.
Diabetes, is a degenerative medical condition, a progressive disease. When we speak of it being progressive, it simply means that, when left undetected or untreated it will get worse. Untreated, it can create a multitude of problems including but not limited to loss of limbs (normally feet or legs from infection), loss of eyesight or blurred vision, a build up of plaque in arteries which can cause heart disease and heart attack, kidney disease, high blood pressure, stroke, coma and even early death.
Amazingly, just a little effort at weight loss can go a long way. According to recent reports, if the U.S. population would just collectively lose about two pounds, more than 2 million cases of diabetes could be prevented.