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On World Diabetes Day, which is being observed on November 14, the Coalition of Romania's Chronic Disease Patient Organizations - COPAC and the Association of Children and Youth with Diabetes - ASCOTID are sounding alarm about the danger of type 2 diabetes being diagnosed in late stages.
According to a COPAC release, 1,207,053 people in Romania are being monitoring under the diabetes program, told Agerpres.
"The number of newly discovered diabetes cases will increase slightly this year. Whereas in 2019 the number of new cases was 76,967, in 2020 it dropped to 59,914, but then returned to an upward trend in 2021, with 82,552 cases, and in the first six months of 2022 it was 41,849 (which points to an increase), according to data released by the National Public Health Institute," the statement reads.
"The number of people who live with diabetes is at least twice as high as the number of people who are diagnosed with this condition. According to worldwide statistics, one in two adults with diabetes is not diagnosed. It is important to educate the population to have their tests done regularly for the timely detection of any change. Unfortunately, many people get to to the doctor when the diabetes is already advanced and there are many complications," says the vice-president of the National Family Medicine Association Daciana Toma, COPAC consultant on health education projects.
The national survey on the prevalence of diabetes, prediabetes, overweight, obesity, dyslipidemia, hyperuricemia and chronic kidney disease - PREDATORR - shows that Romania is among the countries with the highest prevalence of diabetes in Europe, with 11.6 percent of adults affected by this disease.
In Europe, 61 million people were diagnosed with this condition in 2021.
According to the International Diabetes Federation, 537 million adults aged between 20 and 79 have diabetes, i.e. one in 10 people suffer from this disease, and it is estimated that this number will increase to 643 million by 2030 and to 783 million by 2045.
In 2021, diabetes was responsible for 6.7 million deaths worldwide.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas no longer produces insulin or the body does not use this hormone effectively, resulting in increased blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia).
