World will see ‘alarming’ increase in diabetes by 2050 – 06/22/2023 – Equilibrium and Health

Every country in the world will see diabetes rates increase over the next 30 years if no action is taken, indicates a new global study.

Currently, there are 529 million people in the world with diabetes, according to the study led by researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Researchers have projected that number will more than double, to around 1.3 billion people, by 2050.

Most cases are of type 2 diabetes, the form of the disease linked to obesity and largely preventable, the researchers said.

The increase in prevalence globally is not uniform: some countries and regions are particularly hard hit. For example, prevalence rates are expected to reach 16.8% in North Africa and the Middle East and 11.3% in Latin America and the Caribbean by 2050, compared to an estimated 9.8% globally. Currently, the prevalence is 6.1%. But all countries will be affected, the researchers said.

“The rapid growth rate of diabetes is not only alarming but also challenging for all health systems in the world,” said Liane Ong, lead author of the paper, noting that the condition is linked to several other cardiovascular conditions such as heart disease. and spills.

The rising number of people with diabetes is driven in part by rising obesity and in part by changing demographics: Prevalence is higher among older adults, the study showed.

Data from 204 countries do not take into account the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, because those numbers were not yet available, the researchers said.

The study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is part of a broader series on diabetes published Thursday in The Lancet medical journal. The series calls for more effective mitigation strategies and an awareness of inequality, with the majority of diabetes patients living in low- and middle-income countries and lacking access to adequate treatment.