Half a billion people have diabetes and most of them don’t even know it

As the Covid-19 pandemic is slowly coming to an end in some parts of the world, a less visible disease continues to claim more and more victims. In 1980, 108 million people were diabetic. Today, that figure has more than quadrupled.

According to a study, which was published on Friday, May 21 in Lancet Healthy Longevity, a significant part of the world’s population suffers diabetes without them being aware of this themselves.

The researchers collected data from 680,000 people between the ages of 25 and 64 in about 55 different countries. More than 37,000 of them had diabetes. More than half of that group had never received that diagnosis from a doctor. The study was able to establish with certainty that these people do suffer from diabetes by using blood samples.

About 90 percent of the patients were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which is usually caused by an unhealthy lifestyle. One in three people in the world has also been overweight since 2020. As a result, the number of cases of diabetes is increasing.

No more luxury problem

According to the study, only one in ten of all diabetes patients receive the necessary care to live a healthier, longer life. That’s because diabetes is now increasingly emerging in developing countries in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

In the past, diabetes was mainly a problem for prosperous countries. That is now changing. Diabetes is exploding in numbers everywhere. 80 percent of all patients live in low- or middle-income countries, ”said David Flood, a researcher at the University of Michigan.

1 in 20 Belgians does not know

About 34 million Americans suffer from diabetes, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control. 90 percent of those cases would also be type 2 diabetes.

In Belgium at least 500,000 people have diabetes, or 1 in 20 Belgians. It is quite possible that another 500,000 people are unaware that they have diabetes. In that case, 1 in 10 Belgians would suffer from diabetes.

Failure to control blood sugar levels can have serious health consequences. People with untreated diabetes are three times as likely to have a heart attack and 20 times as likely to have a leg amputation. Diabetes can also lead to stroke, kidney failure, loss of vision, damage to the nervous system and problems during pregnancy.

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Also read: More and more evidence that Covid-19 causes (a new form of) diabetes

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