Every November 14, World Diabetes Day is commemorated to raise awareness about the impact of this disease on people’s health. It also seeks to highlight the opportunities that exist to strengthen prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
This year’s theme is “Education to Protect Tomorrow.” PAHO calls for the need to strengthen access to quality diabetes education both for the health team and for people living with this pathology, their caregivers, and society in general.
According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), diabetes mellitus (DM) affected 537 million adults worldwide and prediabetes (risk of developing DM2) another 541 million in 2021, causing the death of 6.7 million people. . In that period, it consumed around US$966 billion in control and treatment expenses, an amount that increased by around 316% during the last 15 years. Its magnitude gives reason to the accurate premonition of the World Health Organization (WHO) that DM2 and its frequent predecessor, obesity, would be the pandemic of the 21st century.
Its late diagnosis - frequent in our community - facilitates the development and progression of its chronic micro- and macroangiopathic complications, which markedly reduce the quality and quantity of life of those who suffer from them, and significantly increase the costs of care. Cost contributed by the accumulation of expenses associated with the production/care of cardiovascular events consecutive to the late diagnosis of DM, especially type 2. It is also influenced by the low quality of care, which is not unrelated to the late and inappropriate prescription of the drug. insulin by tacit agreement of the doctor-patient duo.
Health effects
Over time, diabetes can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves.
- Adults with diabetes have a two- to three-fold increased risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
- Diabetic neuropathies affecting the extremities, combined with reduced blood flow, increase the likelihood of ulcers and infections that ultimately require amputation as treatment.
- Diabetic retinopathy, which is a major cause of blindness, is a consequence of damage to the retinal capillaries accumulated over time. About 1 million people have gone blind due to this disease.
- Diabetes is one of the main causes of kidney failure.
- Diabetics are more likely to have worse outcomes when they contract some infectious diseases, including COVID-19.
What can we do to control it?
Stopping the increase in diabetes is possible and goes hand in hand with implementing strategies such as:
- The prevention of diabetes and its risk factors, especially overweight/obesity and insufficient physical activity.
- Screening in the general population and close monitoring of the at-risk population.
- Improve the diagnostic capacity of health services.
- Continuous monitoring of patients.
- Improve referral and care capacity at the secondary level of care.
- Access to quality education, which guarantees adequate training of the health team and also of people living with diabetes, their closest circle, their caregivers and society in general.
- Access to essential medicines and technologies, including insulin.
- Information systems for data collection for monitoring and surveillance.
Diabetes care should be part of the preparation and response to health emergencies. People living with diabetes require the uninterrupted availability of their medications in situations of this type.
Finally, it is worth noting that last September, in the city of Rosario, the XXIII Argentine Diabetes Congress was held, whose motto was “Prediabetes and Diabetes, the importance of intervening in a timely manner.”
Trying to eradicate the glucocentric vision of the approach to this disease, the numerous conferences and symposia of this event prioritized the interdisciplinary approach to the patient, putting lifestyle and non-pharmacological interventions first without neglecting the assessment of cardiovascular risk.
Acknowledgments: Dr. Cecilia Pérez and Dr. Paula Gago Noble.
