Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Type 2 Diabetes killing the young

This fact is again highlighted in the BBC news, when it reported a study by Dr H Mulnier of Surrey University on the incidence of Type 2 Diabetes (NIDDM) in the United Kingdom and their risk of dying. Dr Mulnier and team reviewed GP records of UK patients dying from all causes from January 1992 to October 1999.

There were 264,000 cases reviewed and they found that young patients with Type 2 Diabetes had a three times more likely chance of dying than similar aged patients without diabetes. This proportion is very high and the results of this study (reported in the journal of Diabetic medicine), astounding.

What is even more important to note is that, with the present fast food culture, patients with diabetes are getting younger whether in the UK or China. The increasing prosperity especially in the eastern seaboard of China has spawned more fastfood restaurant with their high calorie diets. The proportion of young Chinese developing metabolic syndrome was recently reported.

As the age for type 2 diabetes gets younger, there is more time for complications to develop, and so the higher risk of dying from diabetic related complications. Metabolic syndrome (the syndrome of hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, and low HDL-cholesterol) is in many ways preventable, by a healthy lifestyle, including weight loss, control of hypertension, diet and exercise.

When faced with a three times increase chance of dying, perhaps young adults, male and females, should take heed, in order to live longer and better.

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