What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a common life-long health condition. There are 3.8 million people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK and an estimated 850,000 people who have the condition but don’t know it.
Risk Factors
Risk factors associated with diabetes include lack of physical activity, obesity and smoking.
Age is also a key factor in diabetes prevalence. Type 1 diabetes tends to be diagnosed in childhood but the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes increases steadily after the age of 45 years. Type 2 diabetes prevalence is higher in areas experiencing deprivation. People living in the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in England are 56% more likely to have diabetes than those living in the least deprived areas. It is known that people from Asian and Black ethnic groups are more likely to have diabetes and tend to develop the condition at younger ages (source: Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory, YHPHO).
Impacts
Diabetes significantly increases the risks of heart attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney failure and amputation and reduces life expectancy by more than fifteen years for someone with Type 1 diabetes and up to ten years for someone with Type 2 diabetes (source: YHPHO).
In 2016 it was estimated that Type 2 diabetes, the most common and preventable type, causes 22,000 additional deaths (2013) and costs the NHS £8.8 billion a year.
Nationally, hospital lengths of stay are on average 20% higher than those for patients without diabetes, and prescribing costs for patients with diabetes increased by 88% between 2002 and 2007. In addition to direct health costs, there is a considerable impact on social care expenditure as diabetes complications are estimated to increase costs four-fold.
Key issues for Somerset:
Projected Trends of Diabetes in Somerset
The chart below shows the projected trend in numbers and percentage of the population aged 16 and over in Somerset up to 2035. The estimates take into account the age, sex, ethnicity profiles and deprivation in the county.
Source: National Cardiovascular Intelligence Network. The estimates are modelled using data from NHS Digital, ONS 2014-based sub-national population projections and Health Surveys for England 2012, 2013 and 2014
Public Health England has an interactive tool Healthier Lives: Diabetes enabling the user to access a range of diabetes-related indicators and compare figures for all counties/unitary authorities, Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) areas and GP Practices.
There is a companion Diabetes profile tool which includes up-to-date trends and comparisons of data between local authorities and CCGs. Indicators are grouped by:-
A detailed profile on diabetes in Somerset, produced by the NCVIN, can be downloaded below:
Control and Screening
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends nine care processes for diabetes. These are five risk factors (body mass index, blood pressure, smoking, glucose levels (HbA1c) and cholesterol) and four tests to identify early complications (Urine Albumin Creatinine Ratio, serum creatinine, foot nerve and circulation examination and eye screening.
There are three treatment targets GPs can record as part of effective structured care for people diagnosed with diabetes:-
People with diabetes also have annual foot checks for lower limb nerve damage or impaired circulation which can cause foot ulcers which in turn can lead to lower limb amputations.
Somerset Partnership offers:-
Prevention
It is important to note that Type 2 diabetes is to a degree preventable by lifestyle interventions:
People who are overweight or obese (and particularly if they have a family history of diabetes) can substantially reduce their risk of developing the condition if they lose some weight and adopt a more active lifestyle. There is also emerging evidence which suggests that Type 2 diabetes may be reversible by gastric surgery or by a very low calorie diet under medical supervision.
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86.3% of people living here are very or fairly satisfied with where they live, well above the national average of 78.6% (The Place Survey, 2008).