Diabetes now affects 2.5 pct population in Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Aygul Salmanova

New data from Republican Endocrinology Center reveals 241,323 people in Azerbaijan have diabetes in 2017 and this is a 12 percent rise compared to last year.

The disease triggered by factors such as sedentary lifestyle, fast food and sugary drinks, and the series of other reasons now threaten some 241,323 Azerbaijanis, or 2,5 percent of population of the country.

Doctor of the Republican Endocrinology Center, Narmin Ismayilova said that 29,830 patients of diabetes are suffering from Type 1 diabetes, while 211,493 cases are Type 2.

The statistics reveals that 1,543 people with diabetes are aged over 14. Of them 1,522 have Type 1 diabetes, while 21 of them are suffering from Type 2.

Baku, with about two and a half million of population, accommodates 73,367 of the diabetes patients with 556 being children.  

However, this is not the final statistics, since there many people who are unaware of their condition. The reason is that symptoms of diabetes can be so mild that they go unnoticed.

“Of course, there are patients who are not officially registered in Azerbaijan and are unaware of their illness. Diabetes leads to complications in the human body. In the world, 90 percent of such patients are suffering from Type 2 diabetes. The time span of the disease is long. Therefore, the main purpose is to determine the early diagnosis of the disease at an early stage”, said Ismayilova.

Very few people take adequate treatment, with almost 46 percent patients still undiagnosed among the estimated 415 million adults living with diabetes across the globe. 

Most of diabetics in the country are people over 40 years old, with Type 2 diabetes in the main. Type 1 diabetes are mainly observed in children and young adults. This type of diabetics are reported relatively less in the country and their number did not increase in 2015.

Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation. Adults with diabetes have a two- to three-fold increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Combined with reduced blood flow, neuropathy (nerve damage) in the feet increases the chance of foot ulcers, infection and eventual need for limb amputation.

“Sitting behind a computer, using passive lifestyle and fast food trigger the growth of the disease today,” said the doctor.

Diabetes has negative consequences, but life expectancy will not reduce if to manage the disease carefully.

The figures reiterate that diabetes is an increasing burden of ill health, underlining the need for urgent action to lessen the impact on individuals, as well as the health and social care system supporting them.

Last year Azerbaijan approved the third State Program on Diabetes for 2016-2020 to enable people suffering from this disease to get necessary assistance.

The program targets to improve the quality of medical service, ensure full supply of the patients with medications, self-control devices and other gadgets, strengthen the potential of personnel involved in providing endocrinology services, and increase public awareness with the aim of preventing diabetes.

The program envisages organizing summer camps for children with diabetes, where medical workers will monitor the state of their health.

Due to the measures identifying patients with diabetes, the mortality rate plunged by more than half over the past 10 years in Azerbaijan. Thanks to the program some 90 children suffering with type 1 diabetes got the chance to use insulin pumps for the treatment last year and that will be continued under the new program as well.