Diabetes 'Has Reached Pandemic Proportions'

Thursday is World Diabetes Day, but it's not exactly a celebration—at least not according to new research published Wednesday in the Lancet. According to findings from a new global analysis carried out by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration and the World Health Organization, 828 million adults around the world had either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes in 2022, more than four times the 198 million that claimed the same in 1990, per a release. In that 30-year-plus span, global diabetes rates for both men and women doubled, rising from 6.8% to 14.3% for the former, and from 6.9% to 13.9% for the latter. Researchers put together their study, said to be the first global analysis of trends in diabetes rates and treatments in all nations, by compiling data from more than 1,000 studies on upward of 140 million adults worldwide.

The Guardian notes that more than half of the diabetes cases found worldwide were centered in four nations: India (212 million), China (148 million), the United States (42 million), and Pakistan (36 million). Indonesia and Brazil also ranked high on the list. Among wealthy countries in the West, the United States and the UK claim the highest diabetes rates, with 12.5% and 8.8% of the population suffering from the condition, respectively. Fueling the rise in diabetes cases are an aging population, more prevalent obesity, unhealthy diets, and lack of available treatment, especially in developing nations. About 445 million patients ages 30 and over, or 59% of those with diabetes, didn't see treatment in 2022—3 1/2 times more than the number logged in 1990.

"[Diabetes] has reached pandemic proportions, posing a profound threat to public health and economies alike," Chantal Mathieu, head of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, tells the Guardian. Study co-author Ranjit Mohan Anjana adds: "Our findings highlight the need to see more ambitious policies, especially in lower-income regions of the world, that restrict unhealthy foods, make healthy foods affordable, and improve opportunities to exercise, through measures such as subsidies for healthy foods and free healthy school meals, as well as promoting safe places for walking and exercising, including free entrance to public parks and fitness centers." (More diabetes stories.)