To mark National Diabetes Week, here’s info on everything from
how many Aussies have it to how a small boost in blood glucose
control can cut your risk of diabetes-related complications
WORDS^ KARENFITTALL^ PHOTOGRAPHY^GETTYIMAGES1
The number of Australians
living with diabetes has
tripled since 1990. That
makes it the nation’s
fastest-growing chronic condition
and the biggest challenge facing
Australia’s health system.2
About 280 Australians
develop diabetes every day.
That’s roughly one person every
five minutes. In total, 1.7 million
Australians have diabetes. About
85-90 per cent of them have type
2, while 10 per cent have type 1.3
Indigenous Australians are
almost four times as likely
to have diabetes. They’re
also at a significantly greater risk
of diabetes-related complications,
with a 10-fold higher risk of
kidney failure and an eight-fold
higher risk of high blood pressure.4
For every four adults in
Australia who have been
diagnosed with diabetes,
there’s another person living
with it, undiagnosed. Yet
only 5 per cent of Australians
over 40 have recently used
the online Australian Type 2Diabetes Risk Assessment Tool
(diabetesaustralia.com.au/
risk-calculator), which assesses
a person’s risk of developing
diabetes in the next five years.5
Type 2 diabetes
costs the Australian
healthcare system
$6 billion per year. In
addition, the total annual
cost of type 1 is $570 million.6
Eliminating obesity
would mean at least 40
per cent fewer cases of type 2.
And for people living with
pre-diabetes, making lifestyle
changes, including doing 30
minutes of physical activity
each day and losing as little
as 5 per cent of body weight,
reduces the risk of developing
diabetes by nearly 60 per cent.7
Only 50 per cent of
Australians living with
diabetes have adequate
control of their blood glucose
levels. And poor blood glucose
control means a much higher risk
of developing diabetes-related
complications. ‘Adequate control’is described as reaching the
glycaemic target of HbA1c <7%.8
Two thirds of all heart
disease-related deaths
in Australia occur in
people living with
diabetes or pre-diabetes.
Diabetes is also the leading
cause of blindness in working-age
Australians and the most common
cause of kidney disease.9
Effective treatment
of type 2 halves your
risk of experiencing the
most severe diabetes-related
complications – including heart
attack, stroke and vision loss –
when blood glucose levels, blood
pressure and cholesterol levels are
closely monitored and controlled.10
Even reducing HbA1c
by just 1 per cent has
a significant effect. A small
improvement in glycaemic control
reduces the risk of amputations
by 20 per cent, end-stage kidney
disease by 40 per cent and
advanced eye disease by 42 per
cent, even when other things,
such as weight, are unchanged. ■100 JULY/AUGUST 2019 diabetic livingnational diabetes week