Two million people at risk of type 2 diabetes

New NHS figures show that approximately two million people in England are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the highest on record.

Latest statistics show there are 1,969,610 people registered with a GP who have non-diabetic hyperglycaemia, a condition which puts people at high risk of Type 2, which is the highest on record. It is also likely that the problem will become even greater as the growing obesity crisis is exposing millions more to the condition.

Around nine out of 10 people with diabetes have type 2 and there were over a million obesity diagnoses in hospital admissions last year, 884,000 the year before.

NHS action to combat the problem includes the Diabetes Prevention Programme which identifies people at high risk of diabetes and supports them in living a healthier lifestyle. It has had nearly a million referrals and seen patients who have so far finished it lose the combined weight of 43 ambulances. The programme, which lasts between nine and 12 months, is designed to stop or delay the onset of illness through advice and support on healthier eating and physical exercise.

Radical low calorie diets, that have been shown to stamp out recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes, will be rolled out by the NHS to 5,000 people from April.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said: “Our bulging waistlines mean two million people are now at risk of joining the expanding ranks of those living with largely preventable Type 2 diabetes. The NHS’s highly successful, world-leading diabetes prevention programme is helping hundreds of thousands of people take small common sense steps to get control of their own health. But unless many more of us make a change, obesity-related illnesses will end up costing hundreds of thousands more lives and billions of pounds in higher treatment costs.”

Chris Askew, chief executive at Diabetes UK, added: “The record number of people at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes demonstrates the need for urgent action to stop its rapid growth. More than half of all cases of type 2 diabetes − and the devastating complications it can lead to − could be prevented or delayed by supporting people to reduce their risk by losing weight where appropriate, eating healthy food and being more active.

“The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, designed to help prevent type 2 diabetes in people at high risk of developing the condition, is currently reaching ambitious targets both for numbers undertaking the programme, and for the weight loss they achieve. This much awaited expansion is a great step towards the right direction. Piloting a low calorie weight management programme, making it possible to put the condition into remission, has the potential to completely transform the lives of those already living with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.”