Many Diabetic Deaths Avoidable

LONDON (Reuters Health) - Two out of three diabetes-related deaths could be avoided if people were diagnosed with the disease sooner and received better treatment, a UK charity said Monday.

A report produced by Diabetes UK shows that people who develop ``adult-onset'' or type 2 diabetes have had the disease for an average of between 9 and 12 years before they are diagnosed. Once they are diagnosed, as many as half have already developed complications such as heart disease, kidney problems, eye problems that can lead to blindness, and nerve disorders.

Type 2 diabetes often strikes those who are overweight. People with a family history of the disease or of African, Caribbean or Asian descent are also at increased risk. The disease can sometimes be controlled with diet and exercise, although some people require oral medication or insulin shots to control blood sugar.

Symptoms can include increased thirst, a frequent need to urinate, tiredness, weight-loss and blurred vision. ``But the problem with type 2 diabetes is that the symptoms might not be pronounced,'' Diabetes UK spokesperson Srabani Sen told Reuters Health. ``They can be mild enough for people to put them down to something else, or might not even be there at all.''

About 1.4 million Britons are currently diagnosed with diabetes, and that number is expected to double by 2010. Curbing the growing human and financial costs of diabetes will require public awareness campaigns to educate people as to the seriousness of the disease, Sen said.

A study published last week in the British Medical Journal showed that diabetics--regardless of their age or income--are at much greater risk of dying during a given time period than those without the condition.

The latest report, Too Many Too Late, shows that heart disease is the cause of 50% of deaths in people with diabetes, costing the National Health Service 553 million (US $761 million) per year.

Part of the problem is the ``woeful'' lack of access to proper healthcare for screening and treating people for diabetes, Sen said. Recent UK surveys have shown that one in three GP practices have no specific clinic for diabetics, and 92% of hospitals do not have the recommended number of specialist doctors for treating diabetics, according to the charity's report.

The government is due to publish a National Service Framework for Diabetes later this year, which will set standards of care for diabetics. The charity cautions that ''however good the standards are, they will not be effective unless adequate resources are made available to enable healthcare professionals to implement them.''

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