Experts: 2.73 million Poles have diabetes, the first reliable data show
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We finally have the first reliable data on the incidence of diabetes. According to them, 2.73 million Poles have the disease, of which 26 percent are not aware of it - experts said at the press breakfast in Warsaw.
"Previously published data on diabetes were inaccurate because of poor medical statistics" - said Prof. Tomasz Zdrojewski from the Medical University of Gdańsk, also representing the public health committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) data from 2014, 2.05 million people aged 20-79 years suffered from diabetes in Poland, which accounts for 7.08 percent of the population. World Health Organization (WHO) analysis prepared in 2000 indicated that in Poland there are 1.13 million diabetics at the age of 20 or higher. WHO also predicted by 2030 the number of patients with diabetes will increase by 40 percent.
Dr. Roman Topór-Mądry from the Institute of Public Health of the Jagiellonian University Medical College emphasised in its latest report that the data it contains on diabetes in Poland are the most complete and reliable to date. They concern the prevalence of the disease in 2013.
"We have determined that in total 2.73 million people suffer from diabetes in our country" - said at a meeting with journalists one of the co-authors of the report, Prof. Zdrojewski. This is confirmed by data from the National Health Fund, nationwide survey NATPOL from 2011 and RECEPTOMETR analysis prepared by research and advisory company Sequence, which examined data from drug sales in nearly 600 pharmacies.
1.77 million people benefit from medical consultations associated with diabetes, funded by the National Health Fund. After taking into account the data from pharmacies on sales of antidiabetic drugs and diagnostic strips it has been calculated, that there are 2.13 million diabetics. "About this group we can say that it includes people who have diabetes that has been detected" - said Prof. Zdrojewski.
The total number of diabetics in 2013 was estimated at 2.73 million after taking into account the results of the NATPOL study. The study was conducted on a representative group of Poles who had fasting blood glucose tested twice (when it exceeds 126 mg/dL it may indicate diabetes). This means, therefore, that the 26 percent people out of 2.73 million may have diabetes, but has not started any treatment.
The report shows that diabetes is most common in Silesia (6.5 percent of the population), Łódź province (6.4 percent) Opole province (6.2 percent) and Lower Silesia (6 percent). The number of diabetics is lowest in the provinces Podkarpackie (4.6 percent) and Podlaskie (4.8 percent). Women suffer from diabetes more often (56 percent) than men (44 percent).
National consultant in the field of diabetes, Prof. Krzysztof Strojek said at a meeting with journalists that the number of people with undetected diabetes continues to drop in our country. 10 years ago for each detected case of the disease there was one that had not yet been diagnosed. The latest study shows that one-quarter of patients remain undetected.
According to the national consultant, this is due to the introduction of screening that involves ordering tests of blood glucose levels of patients by primary care physicians.
Stefan Bogusławski from Sequence said that the latest report showed how big the risk of diabetes is in our country. The number of patients will continue to increase, which in turn will increase the cost of treating the disease, particularly its complications, such as heart attacks and strokes, and chronic renal failure. "This will require appropriate management of the disease in the whole health care system" - stressed Bogusławski.
Prof. Strojek said that we must first prevent diabetes complications that require hospitalisation. "Every stay of a diabetic in the hospital is a failure of the healthcare system" - he added.
According to Prof. Zdrojewski, every second woman in the age of 70-79 finds out that she suffers from diabetes only after a heart attack. For men in the same age group, in two-thirds of men heart attack is the first symptom of the disease.
WHO data indicate that diabetes is usually diagnosed 5-12 years after its first symptoms, such as increased blood glucose level. It is not known how many complications of diabetes there are in Poland. This will be determined in the new Sequence study, which will include 500 doctors and 3.5 thousand patients. Bogusławski said that the results will not be known until June 2016.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Zbigniew Wojtasiński
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