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Thousands at risk of diabetes and heart disease in Yorkshire
THOUSANDS of people in Yorkshire are at serious risk of diabetes after researchers estimated more than 800,000 are suffering from prediabetes –a condition that can damage to the heart and circulatory system.
The study, from Diabetes UK, shows the worst affected areas are the Leeds Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the North Yorkshire and York PCT, with each having more than 119,000 people with the condition.
At both Bradford and Airedale PCT and Sheffield PCT there are more than 80,000 people with prediabetes, where blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as Type 2 diabetes.
The condition can cause damage to the body and sufferers are 15 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes.
Linda Wood, regional manager for Diabetes UK Northern and Yorkshire, described the condition as "a ticking time bomb".
She said: "It's staggering that an estimated 807,000 people in the Yorkshire and Humber region have prediabetes, which is often a precursor to Type 2 diabetes, a serious condition which can lead to long term complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputation and blindness.
"Identifying and educating people with prediabetes is vital as it's not too late for many to make healthy lifestyle changes, reverse the condition completely and reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes."
Many people with prediabetes, also known as Impaired Glucose Regulation, are overweight or obese at diagnosis and 90 per cent will either have a family history of prediabetes or have high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Research has revealed the condition can often be reversed and the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes reduced by 60 per cent through losing weight, adopting a healthy, balanced diet and increasing physical activity.
Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly, known as insulin resistance.
In most cases this is linked with being overweight and usually appears in people over 40, though it can appear in South Asian and African-Caribbean people after the age of 25.
More children are being diagnosed with the condition, some as young as seven.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common of the two main types and accounts for between 85 and 95 per cent of the 2.6 million people with diabetes in the UK. Campaigners have said up to half a million people do not know they have it.
Type 1 diabetes develops if the body is unable to produce insulin. This type of diabetes usually appears before the age of 40 and accounts for between 5 and 15 per cent of all people with diabetes.
Last week X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke launched the Diabetes UK My Voice campaigners network for under-18s which aims to help young people affected by the condition get their views heard by politicians and decision makers.
The 21-year-old singer's mother, Soul II Soul singer Melissa Bell, has Type 2 diabetes and suffered kidney failure last year,
Diabetes UK is also today launching its Get Serious campaign, which aims to get as many people as possible to join the charity.
People are being asked to sign up to the campaign and show their support by pledging to make healthy lifestyle changes, fundraising, campaigning or volunteering.
The charity has also welcomed the Government's NHS Health Checks programme as part of their recent commitment to "Putting Prevention First".
The programme aims to assess and manage vascular risk in England and identify people at risk.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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