EXPERTS have warned that Scotland is the grip of a diabetes "epidemic" after new figures revealed the number of people with the disease is rising by almost 200 a week. There are now 220,000 Scots suffering from diabetes – 4.3 per cent of the population. In the past 12 months, the number of people diagnosed with the condition has risen by 10,000, according to data revealed at the Edinburgh International Science Festival yesterday.
Most of the increase is due to the soaring rate of type 2 diabetes, which mostly affects the middle-aged. It is strongly linked to lifestyle factors such as being overweight or obese, being sedentary and having a poor diet. According to the Scottish Diabetes Register, there were 209,706 patients reported to be living with the condition in 2007. But draft figures for last year suggest that figure has jumped to 219,963. This is the equivalent of more than 28 people a day being added to the official statistics.
Dr John McKnight, a consultant physician at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh and an honorary lecturer at Edinburgh University, told The Scotsman that cases of the disease were increasing worldwide.
He said the causes of type 2 diabetes included genetic factors as well as people taking less exercise and putting on weight. But a major factor was the ageing population, which was helping to boost the increase. "People carrying excess weight are more likely to get diabetes," Dr McKnight said. "But there is a genetic element to it, which is recognised. There is also an age element. As you get older, you can make less insulin and your blood sugar tends to rise. The fact that our population is living longer is one of the reasons for this epidemic of diabetes."
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http://news.scotsman.com/health/-Scotland-39in-grip-of.5147200.jp
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