Diabetes approaching 7th in world's leading causes of death

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Diabetes, a chronic endocrinal and metabolic disease, has become one of the fastest growing diseases in the world, with the number of patients soaring from 108 million in 1980 to more than 425 million people in 2018, and the number is expected to grow to 522 million by 2030, said the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

Diabetes is seen to be the seventh leading cause of death worldwide by 2030, estimated by WHO in 2016.

The case is severe in China. In 2017, over 114 million cases of diabetes took place, ranking the world's first. That means about one in ten adults is living with diabetes. "If no timely actions are taken, the number will rise to 150 million by 2040," said Liang Xiaofeng, the deputy director general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The higher the number, the severer the damage

Insulin is a hormone to regulate blood sugar. /VCG Photo

Generally, there are two kinds of diabetes, as unpreventable Type 1 diabetes features deficient insulin production, and Type 2 diabetes, which can be effectively prevented or slowed the progression, is characterized by the body's ineffective use of insulin. The latter accounts for roughly 90 percent of diabetes population.

Not only is the number of diabetes patients great, but the harm of the disease is also vast. It is "a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and lower limb amputation," said the IDF.

Diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes, is a common blind-causing eye disease. /VCG Photo

Diabetic retinopathy (DR), a complication of diabetes, is a common blind-causing eye disease and has become "the leading cause of blindness among the working-age population," said Zhang Guisen, vice president of the Chaoju Ophthalmology Hospital in Inner Mongolia.

The prevalence rate of DR in diabetic patients in China is 24.7 percent to 37.5 percent, while the screening rate is less than 10 percent, according to the National Health Commission.

"The majority of diabetic patients are middle-aged and elderly people, who may attribute the blurred vision to their age. However, it is very likely to be DR," warned Zhang, calling for people's attention to the symptom.

Diabetes is a leading cause of heart disease. /VCG Photo

Diabetes also leads to cardiovascular diseases, as it will cause the metabolic disorders of sugar, fat, protein, water and electrolytes in the human body, leading to hardened and thin artery blood vessel which blocks the blood supply to the heart and brain.

"People with Type 2 diabetes have twice the risk of cardiovascular disease as the general population," said Guo Xiaohui, chief physician of Department of Endocrinology of Peking University First Hospital.

Experts suggest regular cardiovascular and renal function examinations for diabetes patients.

Personal and national efforts to cope with the disease

A healthy diet and regular exercises can be helpful to prevent diabetes. /VCG Photo

Type 2 diabetes is often the result of overweight and lack of exercises. A healthy lifestyle is turned out to be effective to prevent or delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes, according to WHO.

"With the development of the national economy, China's urbanization process has been accelerated and people's activity space has been significantly reduced. People have much less physical activities each day, while their calorie intake has not been correspondingly lowered," said Guo. Meanwhile, a faster pace of life and greater pressure are also closely related to diabetes.

Therefore, to prevent diabetes, the easiest way is to eat a healthy diet, do "at least 30 minutes' of regular, moderate-intensity activity on most days" and give up smoking, as suggested by WHO.

More new drugs are expected to help diabetes patients. /VCG Photo

Many diabetic patients now still rely on drug intervention to control the disease. Recently, a variety of diabetes drugs has been approved in China, bringing more treatment options. Insulin and a variety of oral hypoglycemic drugs have been included in the national catalog of essential drugs, reducing the financial burden on patients.

"The national drug authorities encourage new drugs to be marketed, especially domestic innovative drugs. We hope with these new drugs, more Chinese patients will be served," said Yang Wenying, vice chair of Asian Association for the Study of Diabetes.