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June 29, 2017

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Diabetes a massive problem for China

CHINA is facing the largest diabetes epidemic in the world with around 11 percent of the population suffering from the illness, while nearly 36 percent are pre-diabetic, according to a US study.

The survey, which included 170,287 participants and was conducted in 2013, was analyzed with the assistance of Linhong Wang from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers measured levels of fasting plasma glucose of each participant.

Those with levels of 126 milligrams per deciliter or higher were defined as diabetic while those with levels between 105 and 126mg/dl were defined as pre-diabetic.

Hyperglycemia is a result of two anomalies — a malfunction of the pancreas which creates insulin, or the resistance of the body to this hormone.

Among China’s diabetic population, 36.5 percent were aware of their diagnosis and 32.2 percent were receiving treatment. Among those being treated, 49.2 percent had adequate glycemic control.

The adult diabetic rate in China of 10.9 percent is close to the United States’ 9.3 percent, according to 2014 figures.

China’s pre-diabetic rate of 35.7 percent was also close to the US rate of 37 percent recorded in 2014.

With approximately 1.09 billion adults in China, some 388.1 million were projected to be pre-diabetic (200.4 million men and 187.7 million women).

Diabetes is a growing public health problem throughout the world. Some 422 million adults had diabetes in 2014, compared with 108 million in 1980, according to a report published by the World Health Organization last year.

Diabetes rates have been increasing more rapidly in low and middle-income countries.

The illness is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks and lower limb amputations, according to the WHO.

In 2012, an estimated 1.5 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes and another 2.2 million deaths were attributable to high blood glucose, according to the report.




 

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