We all want to know how to live not only longer but better. This month, Dr Harper asks us to think about our diabetes risk and how to start taking steps to prevent it.
WORDS: DR DAWN HARPER. IMAGES: SHUTTERTSTOCK.
Tuesday November 14 is World Diabetes Day. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of the condition and, I think more importantly, awareness of the seriousness of the condition. When I first joined general practice more than 25 years ago, if I had to tell someone they had diabetes, that diagnosis was met by fear. Today, everyone knows someone with diabetes and because those people often appear so well on the outside, it is easy to become a bit complacent about the diagnosis. Between 90 and 95 per cent of diabetes in the UK is type 2, which is usually (but not always) associated with being overweight or obese.
I have often heard type 2 diabetes referred to as “the milder type”, but sadly that just isn’t true. By the time someone is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes they have a 50 per cent chance of already having developed some of the complications associated with this condition; that means nerve and blood vessel damage that could increase the risk of things like heart attacks and strokes.
LET’S LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
In 2018 I wrote a book called Live Well to 101. In that book I looked at all the factors that influence our chances of living a long and healthy life, from wealth and geography to psychology and weight. At the time of writing, experts were predicting that there would be 5 million people with diabetes in the UK by 2025. Today, in 2023, we have already reached that figure – and that doesn’t include all the thousands of people walking around who already have the condition but don’t yet know.
Most people with diabetes will look completely healthy, but the frightening truth is that every week in the UK, diabetes accounts for:
● 184 amputations
● More than 770 strokes
● 590 heart attacks
● 2,300 diagnoses of heart failure And the health risks associated with diabetes make for scary reading. If you have diabetes, you have a:
● 200 per cent increased risk of developing heart disease or a stroke
● 25 per cent increased risk of developing kidney disease, which could result in the need for dialysis
● 50 per cent increased risk of developing glaucoma
● 300 per cent increased risk of developing cataracts
● 3000 per cent increased risk of needing an amputation.
TIME TO TAKE CONTROL
The goo
