World Diabetes Day this Monday 14 November focuses on the importance of screening to
ensure early diagnosis of diabetes and its complications.
Half of people living with diabetes don’t know they have it and many people with diabetes are not adequately screened for complications.
In Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) in 2016, 20 per cent of people over 16 years were found to be overweight, obese, have diabetes or high blood glucose levels.
“Despite the increasing rates of diabetes, many people still find the numbers of Australians diagnosed hard to believe” said Clinical Nurse Consultant for Diabetes Education for MLHD, Debbie Scadden.
“Diabetes does not discriminate and diagnoses can be made at any age along the life cycle. It could be a toddler, child, teenager, young adult, pregnant woman, middle-aged or senior.
“High risk groups are Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Pacific Islanders, Indian sub-continent and people with Chinese heritage,” Ms Scadden added.
Credentialled Diabetes Educators (Registered Nurses) and Dietitians are pivotal health care specialist in the public and private health sectors to assist people in self-care management to understand their condition, keep up with changes in medication and develop management plans to lead a healthy lifestyle.
More than 1.8 million Australians have been diagnosed with diabetes and it is estimated at least another 2 million people over the age of 25 have what is known as “impaired glucose tolerance” or “pre-diabetes” putting them at increased risk of diabetes.
Check your risk of diabetes with your local General Practitioner or at the Australian Diabetes Council website: www.australiandiabetescouncil.com
ends
- Information sourced from http://www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au/
- An interactive diabetes map is available on
http://www.ndss.com.au/en/Research/Australian-Diabetes-Map/
