More than 800 million people suffer from diabetes worldwide: what is the situation in Europe?

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According to a new analysis, the number of people living with diabetes worldwide has exceeded 800 millionwhat does it mean sharp increase last time 30 years old. The study, published in The Lancet, was conducted by the NCD Risk Factors Collaboration and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Trends in the prevalence and treatment of diabetes worldwide have been studied. between 1990 and 2022 and used data from more than 140 million adults in 200 countries and territories. The results show that the number of people with diabetes has increased. duplicate over the past three decades, increasing from approximately 7% or 198 million people in 1990 around 14% or 828 million people in 2022.

According to the study, more than half people with diabetes they don’t get treatment for this condition, especially in low and middle income countries. Diabetes is a chronic disease that causes more than two million deaths in 2021. This can lead to serious complications such as blindness, kidney failure and heart disease.

Eat two types The main ones are type 1, which is an autoimmune disease, and type 2, which affects the body’s use of insulin and accounts for the majority of cases. Unlike type 1, type 2 can often be prevented through lifestyle changes, such as maintaining healthy eating and normal body weight, follow physical activity and avoid tobacco use, according to the WHO.

Global disparities in diabetes incidence and treatment

The number of people with diabetes is almost four times higher than in 1990, a new study has found. big differences between countries. More than half of the world’s diabetes cases occurred in four countries: India (212 million), China (148 million), USA (42 million) and Pakistan (36 million). The next countries with the highest number of diabetes cases were Indonesia with 25 million and Brazil with 22 million.

Pacific island countries, as well as those located in the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Pakistan and Malaysia also had the highest rates of diabetes. However, according to the study, some higher income countries, e.g. Europethey saw no change or even a small reduction in diabetes rates.

rates V Western EuropeFor example, they were some of the lowest: countries like France, Denmark and Spain reported the diabetes rate to be only 2 and 4% among individuals over 18 years of age for both sexes.

“Our research highlights growing global inequality in matters diabetesyet treatment rates are stagnating in many low- and middle-income countries, where the number of adults with diabetes is rising sharply,” Majid Ezzati, lead author of the study from Imperial College London, said in a statement.

He added that this was “particularly concerning” for young people, who could be at risk of lifelong complications. The study showed that obesity And poor nutrition were main driving forces increasing rates of type 2 diabetes.

He care This was also a serious problem: almost 60% of people aged 30 years and older with diabetes were not receiving treatment in 2022, especially in India, China, Pakistan, Indonesia and the United States.

How different is Europe from the rest in terms of diabetes care?

Belgium had the highest treatment rates: 86% of women and 77% of men with diabetes received it.

After Belgium Poland, Finland and Portugal they have higher treatment rateswith more than 70% of the population of these countries receiving treatment. Less than half of people with diabetes received treatment in France, Latvia and Lithuania, according to the study.

“Over the past three decades, we have seen an alarming rise in diabetes, reflecting a rise in obesity, exacerbated by the influence of drug marketing. junk foodphysical inactivity and economic hardship,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“To control the global diabetes epidemic, countries must take urgent action. It starts with policy implementation that support healthy eating and physical activity and, most importantly, health systems which provide prevention, early detection and treatment“he added.