Diabetes is the epidemic of 21st century and is the biggest challenge confronting Australia’s health system. In 2013, 1.5 million deaths globally were a result of diabetes complications.

National Diabetes Week is run by Diabetes WA, striving for greater awareness of symptoms, earlier diagnosis and better long-term health outcomes for every person at risk of developing or already living with diabetes.

Diabetes Facts:

• 280 Australian’s develop diabetes every day. That’s one person every 5 minutes.
• Around 1.7 million Australians have diabetes.
• In a newspaper articles published on ABC news on 9 July 2017, Diabetes Australia CEO Greg Johnson mentioned that up to 500,000 Australians may have Type 2 Diabetes without even knowing it.
• More than 100,000 Australians have developed diabetes in the past year
• For every person diagnosed with diabetes, there is usually a family or carer who also ‘lives with diabetes’ everyday in a support role. This means that an estimated 2.4million Australians are affected by diabetes every day.
• Total annual cost impact of diabetes in Australia estimated at $14.6 billion.

Diabetes Mellitus (DM), also known as diabetes, is recognised as the world’s fastest growing chronic condition. It is a group of metabolic disorders in which there are high blood sugar levels over a prolonged period of time.  

There are three main types of diabetes; Type 1, Type 2 and gestational diabetes.

• Type 1 DM (also known as insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes) results from the pancreas’ failure to produce insulin. The cause of it is unknown.
• Type 2 DM begins with insulin resistance, a condition where cells fail to respond to insulin properly. As the disease progresses, a lack of insulin may also develop. Also known as adult onset diabetes or non-insulin dependent diabetes, the most common cause is excessive weight and lack of physical activity.
• Gestational diabetes occurs when pregnant women without a previous history of diabetes develop high blood sugar levels.

Diabetes has been associated with many complications i.e. blindness, amputations, renal failure, high blood pressure amongst others. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Unfortunately, Type 1 diabetes cannot be cured or prevented, however it has been proven scientifically that Type 2 diabetes can be delayed and prevented.

People at risk for Type 2 diabetes can delay or prevent the disease by:

• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Regular physical activity
• Making healthy food choices
• Managing blood pressure
• Managing cholesterol levels
• Not smoking

Visit Diabetes WA website for more information: https://diabeteswa.com.au/

As part of National Diabetes Awareness, the staff at Occuhealth participated in diabetes testing. We had some interesting results but the importance of knowing and understanding your health can not be underestimated.