Diabetes rate up by 45% since 1990

The global diabetes rate has risen by 45% over the past twenty years, according to a new study recently published in Lancet, a British medical journal. Nearly all the rise was in Type 2 diabetes, which is usually related to obesity and is the most common form of the disease.

The prevalence of diabetes has been rising in the affluent countries for several decades, largely due to increases in the rate of obesity.

However, more recently, the poorer countries have begun to follow the trend, with major increases in China, Mexico and India.

The pattern is linked to economic improvement and more people living longer; but it has left governments in developing countries scrambling to deal with new and often more expensive ways to treat illnesses.

Written by: Dr. Ajay Sati.