More than 1.4 million Dutch people will have diabetes in twenty years. The Diabetes Fund expects this on the basis of research it commissioned by the RIVM and the Nivel research institute. Last year, more than 1.1 million people with diabetes were registered at GP practices.
Last year, more than 1.1 million people with diabetes were known: 110,000 with type 1 and 1,030,000 with type 2. Partly due to population growth and an aging population, this is expected to be 130,000 and 1.3 million respectively in 2040.
‘Thousand a week’
“These figures unfortunately support the image we already had”, says Rens Vandeberg, deputy director of the Diabetes Fund, in the NOS Radio 1 News. “Diabetes will only increase in the coming years, with about a thousand new cases per week. Especially from type 2 diabetes.”
The number of new cases of type 2 diabetes appears to increase especially from the age of 40. Yet an estimated 3,600 people in their twenties and over 15,000 people in their thirties have type 2 diabetes. This also applies to several hundred teenagers. In young people with this type of diabetes, obesity and heredity are important causes.
Average age is falling
“Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. Anyone can get it at any time in life,” says Vandeberg. “We see that it mainly occurs before you are 35.” Type 2 diabetes has more causes. “It may be genetic, but we also know that a large part is related to lifestyle. We used to call type 2 diabetes ‘old age sugar’ and you saw that it was really something that arose at a later age.”
It also appears that the average age at which people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has decreased: from 62.9 years to 60.6 years since 2011. “That doesn’t seem like much, but what we should not forget is that people who have diabetes can also have to deal with additional disorders within five to ten years. “
The most common conditions in diabetes are cardiovascular disease. In type 1, 34 percent of people are affected and in type 49 percent.
Healthy living
The director of the Diabetes Fund, Etelka Ubbens, thinks these are alarming developments. “The figures strengthen us to focus more on a better quality of life in addition to cure and prevention.”
The fund asks the food industry and politicians to help make healthy living easier and combat obesity. This is a major risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes. It also helps people who already have diabetes to reduce their complaints and additional disorders.
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