News

One in every 11 Canadian adults now suffers from diabetes, according to a disturbing report that charts the steady rise of the chronic disease over the past decade.

The startling increase in diagnosed cases is the result of galloping obesity, an aging population, immigration by ethnic groups at high risk of diabetes and better treatments, which have prolonged the lives of those living with the disease.

In fact, the one glimmer of good news in the findings is that deaths from diabetes have plummeted by 25 per cent in the decade. But the flip side is that treatment costs are soaring.

"These statistics should worry every Canadian because our health system just can't handle this epidemic of diabetes," David Lau said in an interview. He is a researcher at the Julia MacFarlane Diabetes Research Centre of the University of Calgary.

That is because diabetes is an insidious disease that damages the circulatory system; it is a leading cause of heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and need for amputation. Almost one in every 10 health dollars is already gobbled up by diabetes treatment, and the new data mean that number will soar in the years to come.

The research, published in today's edition of the British medical journal, The Lancet, suggests that almost three million Canadians have diabetes. (More than 90 per cent of those cases are Type 2 diabetes, a lifestyle-related disease associated with obesity and inactivity. Type 1 diabetes -- once known as juvenile diabetes -- is a condition whose causes are only partly understood).

Silvana Angotti is one of the newest statistics, having been diagnosed less than a month ago with Type 2 diabetes.

"It was shocking -- not expected at all," she said. "I thought: 'Oh my God, now what?' "

Ms. Angotti, a 48-year-old Toronto nurse, said her weight has crept up gradually over the years but she had was not aware of any health problems until she started experiencing blurry vision. Testing revealed high blood glucose levels, a hallmark of diabetes.

Ms. Angotti is now attending classes on how to manage the illness with lifestyle changes such as better diet and exercise.

Lorraine Lipscombe, a research fellow at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Ontario and lead author of the study, said the findings suggest that "Type 2 diabetes has become a serious public health problem."

She said the data should also "serve as an impetus for a diabetes-prevention strategy -- because we seem to have fallen down on the prevention side."

The study is based on numbers from administrative databases in Ontario. The province maintains a registry of all patients diagnosed with diabetes.

Dr. Lipscombe, who is also a nephrologist at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, found that 8.8 per cent of adults suffered from diabetes in 2005, up from 5.2 per cent in 1995. That is a 69-per-cent increase over 10 years.

The research team found that diabetes rates rose fastest among those aged 20 to 49. This is surprising because diabetes has traditionally been an illness associated with aging that mainly strikes seniors.

"We think this change has to do with rising rates of obesity," Dr. Lipscombe said. Another factor is the rise in immigration from South Asia; research has shown that some ethnic groups, such as South Asians and Pacific Islanders are particularly susceptible to developing diabetes when they adopt a Western diet. Also affected are aboriginal Canadians.

While the research was conducted in Ontario, the findings likely apply across Canada.

"I suspect other provinces may have even worse numbers, because Ontario is only middle-of-the-pack when it comes to obesity," Dr. Lau said.

He said the figures provide a relatively conservative overall number, because the Ontario registry features only patients diagnosed with diabetes, and many more people are believed to have undiagnosed diabetes.

"The incidence rate is hitting the roof," Dr. Lau said, and there is no end in sight to the increases.

"This has serious implications for health planning 10 and 20 years down the road," he said. "So, this study should be setting off alarm bells for policy-makers."