Diabetes at critical levels, committee warned
Diabetes Federation of Ireland chairman Dr Tony O’Sullivan warned that almost 30% of the 350,000 people in Ireland who have diabetes do not know they have the metabolic disorder.
A further 100,000 people have pre-diabetes which, if detected, can be stabilised by diet, exercise and weight loss to prevent progression to diabetes.
Dr O’Sullivan told members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee of Health and Children that a 50% increase in diabetes was expected in Europe by 2010, with 32 million people affected.
He warned that a huge number of people aged between 30 and 40 in Ireland had diabetes; quite a few people in their 20s had developed the condition, and some children had developed type two diabetes - the most common form.
But in the past, type two diabetes was primarily seen in older people
He pointed out that about 10% of the healthcare budget was currently spent on diabetes care and the cost would continue to escalate in the absence of a fully-funded national strategy.
Consultant endocrinologist Dr Richard Firth said a diabetes strategy would lead to savings for the State within five years.
“Undiagnosed type two diabetes, the most common form of the disease, is now the primary cause of heart disease, kidney disease, lower limb amputations and blindness in people under the age of 65,” he said.
He said more than 50% of people had sight-threatening problems at the time they were diagnosed.
“Yet, if we had the services in place, we know we can stop diabetes-related blindness from developing,” said Dr Firth.
He was also concerned that far too many people were going straight from an at-risk foot to amputation because of the lack of foot services in Ireland, where levels are higher than most other European countries.
Dr Firth said it cost around €45,000 to amputate a foot, compared to just €20,000 to save it.
Currently, 15% of hospital beds are unnecessarily taken up by patients with type two diabetes-related complications.
Dr Firth said the average delay from onset of the condition to actual diagnosis had moved from seven to 12 years and the average age of diagnosis had dropped from 60 to 52 years.
“This is mainly due to our more sedentary lives as we have become a less active population, engaging in more frequent eating of convenience foods and becoming less physically active,” he said.
Chairman of the National Taskforce on Obesity, John Treacy, who also appeared before the committee, said the Government had yet to take the next step in combating obesity by setting up a body to implement its 93 recommendations published last May.
He said obesity represented a major threat to the health of the nation.
Almost 40% of the adult population in Ireland are overweight and almost 20% are obese.
Mr Treacy added that Irish rates of obesity are growing by 1% a year.
The committee agreed to write to the Department of Health and Children, recommending that the implementation body be established.
* Diabetes is a condition in which the amount of glucose in the blood is too high because the body is unable to use it properly.
* Type one diabetes is where there is a severe lack of insulin and usually appears before the age of 40. The condition is treated with insulin injections and diet.
* Type two diabetes usually appears in people over 40 and is common among the elderly and overweight. It is treated by diet and/or by tablets, or sometimes insulin injections.
* Factors that increase the risk of diabetes include family history, being overweight (80% of diabetics are overweight), lack of physical exercise and age.
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