Type 1 diabetes leading cause of diabetes deaths in those below 25, easily preventable: Study

Type 1 diabetes leading cause of diabetes deaths in those below 25.

Diabetes:

• Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose (or blood sugar), which leads over time to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves.
• The most common is type 2 diabetes, usually in adults, which occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn't make enough insulin.
• Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin by itself.
• There is a globally agreed target to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity by 2025. 

Current status of Diabetes in world:

• Type 1 diabetes in those below 25 years accounted for at least 73.7 per cent of the overall 16,300 diabetes deaths in this age group in 2019.
• The death rate varied based on the socio-demographic index (SDI) of a country:
• Countries on the higher end of the SDI spectrum recorded 0.13 deaths per 100,000 people (a toll of 415).
• For the low-middle SDI countries, Type 1 diabetes had a death rate of 0.6 per 100,000 people (5,300 deaths)
• low SDI countries recorded a 0.71 per 100,000 population death rate (4,860 deaths). 
• Myanmar (1.93 deaths per 100,000 population), Papua New Guinea (1.78 per 100,000 population) and Haiti (1.57 per 100, 000 population) had the highest age-standardised death rates for diabetes.
• Cyprus (0.03 deaths per 100,000 population), Slovenia (0.03 per 100,000 population) and Switzerland (0.03 per 100,000 population) had the lowest death rates.

How deaths can be prevented?

• Decreasing diabetes mortality at ages younger than 25 years remains an important challenge, especially in low and low-middle SDI countries.
• Inadequate diagnosis and treatment of diabetes is likely to be a major contributor to these early deaths, highlighting the urgent need to provide better access to insulin and basic diabetes education and care.
• Preventing and managing chronic complications in diabetes patients is not easy but the same is not true for avoiding fatal cases due to acute complications.
• Uninterrupted access to affordable insulin, healthcare and health education is all that is needed.