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
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1
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 2
Diabetes 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 living
national diabetes week