People living with diabetes doubles in twenty years

Analysis released by Diabetes UK has revealed that the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK has more than doubled in the last twenty years.

There are nearly 3.7 million people living with a diagnosis of diabetes in the UK, which the charity says is an increase of 1.9 million since 1998. Broken down, it also shows that the number of people diagnosed with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes has increased by almost 100,000 since last year.

Approximately nine in ten people diagnosed with diabetes have Type 2, although it is estimated that there are nearly another one million people currently living with the condition who are unaware that they have it because they haven’t been diagnosed yet.

Type 1 diabetes isn’t currently preventable, however three in five cases of Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by making healthier choices, by helping people understand their own risk of developing the condition and by securing early diagnosis for those known to be at high risk.

Chris Askew, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: “Diabetes is the fastest growing health crisis of our time; and the fact that diagnoses have doubled in just twenty years should give all of us serious pause for thought. Both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are serious conditions that can lead to devastating complications such as amputation, blindness, kidney disease, stroke and heart disease if people don’t receive a timely diagnosis and begin receiving the right care.

“With more than 12 million people across the UK at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, and prevalence of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes still on the rise, it’s clear there’s a huge amount of work to be done. We want the government to recognise the seriousness of the growing diabetes crisis, take action to help those at increased risk, and help us turn the tables on this devastating condition.”