Paris: The percentage of adults suffering from diabetes across the world has doubled over the past three decades, the biggest rises coming in developing countries, a study said.
The serious health condition affected around 14 per cent of all adults worldwide in 2022, compared to seven per cent in 1990, according to the new analysis in The Lancet journal.
Taking into account the growing global population, the team of researchers estimated that more than 800 million people are now diabetic, compared to less than 200 million in 1990.
These figures include both main types of diabetes. Type 1 affects patients from a young age and is more difficult to treat because it is caused by an insulin deficiency.
Type 2 mainly affects middle-aged or older people who lose their sensitivity to insulin.
Behind the global numbers, national figures varied widely.
The rate of diabetes stayed the same or even fell in some wealthier countries, such as Japan, Canada or Western European nations such as France and Denmark, the study said.
"The burden of diabetes and untreated diabetes is increasingly borne by low-income and middle-income countries," it added.
For example, nearly a third of women in Pakistan are now diabetic, compared to less than a tenth in 1990.
The researchers emphasised that obesity is an "important driver" of type 2 diabetes -- as is an unhealthy diet.
The gap between how diabetes is treated in richer and poorer countries is also widening.
Three out of five people aged over 30 with diabetes -- 445 million adults -- did not receive treatment for diabetes in 2022, the researchers estimated.
India alone was home to almost a third of that number.
In sub-Saharan Africa, only five to 10 per cent of adults with diabetes received treatment in 2022.
Some developing countries such as Mexico are doing well in treating their population -- but overall the global gap is widening, they said.
"This is especially concerning as people with diabetes tend to be younger in low-income countries and, in the absence of effective treatment, are at risk of life-long complications," said senior study author Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London.
Those complications include "amputation, heart disease, kidney damage or vision loss -- or in some cases, premature death," he said in a statement.
The World Health Organization has previously estimated that about 422 million people have diabetes, a chronic metabolic disease involving blood sugar levels, which can damage the heart, blood vessels, nerves and other organs if untreated.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement that the rise documented in the study was alarming.
"To bring the global diabetes epidemic under control, countries must urgently take action," he said, including with policies supporting healthy diets and physical activity, as well as health systems that can prevent, detect and treat the condition.
In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, only 5-10% of those estimated to have diabetes were getting treatment, said Jean Claude Mbanya, professor at the University of Yaounde I in Cameroon. Treating diabetes, either with insulin or drugs, can be expensive.
"A huge number (are) at risk of serious health complications," he said.
Diabetes was defined as having high fasting plasma glucose levels and high glycated haemoglobin, both common diagnostic criteria for the condition, or taking medication for diabetes. The authors said both tests were used to avoid underestimating rates in parts of the world, particularly South Asia, where using fasting plasma glucose alone missed cases.
While the study could not separate out type 1 and type 2 cases, previous evidence has suggested that most diabetes in adults is type 2, which is linked to obesity and poor diet, the authors said. — Agencies
GRAPH POINTS
1. 800 million people are now diabetic, compared to less than 200 million in 1990.
2. Type 1 affects patients from a young age and is more difficult to treat because it is caused by an insulin deficiency.
3. Type 2 mainly affects middle-aged or older people who lose their sensitivity to insulin.
4. Three out of five people aged over 30 with diabetes -- 445 million adults -- did not receive treatment for diabetes in 2022.
5. The serious health condition affected around 14 per cent of all adults worldwide in 2022, compared to seven per cent in 1990.
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