Nearly one in five people have prediabetes, a preliminary phase of the disease in which blood glucose levels are already elevated, but not yet high enough to diagnose type 2 diabetes. The prevalence is comparable between men (21%) and women (15%), and between the ages of 40 and 75 the prevalence increases from 10% to 29%. Furthermore, the research shows that prediabetes is more common in people with a lower level of education than in people with a higher level of education.
People with prediabetes have an approximately nine times increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to people with healthy glucose metabolism.
In the Maastricht Study, researchers have been following people between the ages of 40 and 75 for years to determine, among other things, the development of type 2 diabetes. This means that the high-risk groups older than 75 and the younger groups have not been included, which means that the figures for the total Dutch population will be much higher, according to the researchers.
Crisis
According to the Diabetes Fund, there is a “diabetes crisis” due to the alarming number of people with a high diabetes risk. The research shows that over the course of eight years, 14% of people with prediabetes develop type 2 diabetes: in the age group between 40 and 75 years, this is approximately 200,000 people.
Using a one-time oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), the researchers determined which people have prediabetes. They were then followed for an average of eight years by completing an annual questionnaire asking whether a doctor had diagnosed type 2 diabetes. At the request of the Diabetes Fund, these figures were used to extrapolate to the Dutch population based on the distribution of gender, age and education level.
According to the researchers, the most recent figures show that more than 1.1 million people in the Netherlands live with type 2 diabetes. Nearly a thousand people are diagnosed with this disease every week.
Multi-year campaign
With the aim of a diabetes-free future, the Diabetes Fund focuses on early testing so that Dutch people become aware of their risk and can reduce it if possible. That is why the Diabetes Fund is starting today a multi-year campaign to make people aware of the risk they run of diabetes. Via the test on the website diabetesfonds.nl the visitor will gain insight into whether he is in the danger zone, and depending on the result, lifestyle tips or the advice to visit a doctor will be given.
Tackling the diabetes crisis requires awareness and involvement from everyone, according to the Diabetes Fund, which emphasizes that politicians and the food industry should not look away from these alarming figures.
According to the Diabetes Fund, the alarm is also ringing for young people, because pediatricians are increasingly seeing children and young people who have the disease or are in the preliminary stages.
Maastricht Study
The population study The Maastricht Study is a study among the South Limburg population into the occurrence, causes and treatment of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions.
The study consists of more than nine thousand participants aged 40-75, from the general population living in the Maastricht-Heuvelland region.
