The number of adults with diabetes has doubled world-wide over the last three decades to nearly 350 million and increased nearly threefold in the U.S., a sign that the epidemic will impose an ever-greater cost burden on health systems.
The latest calculation, based on a study published in the British journal Lancet, found that the number of adult diabetics jumped to 347 million from 153 million in 1980.
Many public-health experts consider the rise in diabetes to be more worrying than the rise in high blood pressure rates and cholesterol levels. While rates for those conditions have dropped in some parts of the world, type-2 diabetes is becoming more common almost everywhere, and is increasingly showing up in children.
In the U.S., the total cost of diagnosed diabetes was estimated at $174 billion in 2007, according to the American Diabetes Association.
What's worse is that patients are looking to drugs to help manage their condition however, the underlying causes which are primarily lifestyle related, are not being addressed. Diabetes is one of the most avoidable diseases and with a little education, we can avoid this disease.
To learn more about what we can do to help you with this problem, please call us at (360) 433-9580.
