As discussed previously, diabetes is very common and can cause a variety of non-specific symptoms. These may be obvious and interfere with sleep or daily routines. Or they may be so subtle that affected people may ignore them. As a result, about 1 out of 4 Canadians with diabetes do not know that they have it. This is because they’ve never been tested for it. Unfortunately, not knowing that you have diabetes doesn’t protect you from its consequences. And diabetes can indeed lead to a wide variety of serious health problems over time. The good news is that detecting and optimally treating diabetes has been proven to clearly reduce the severity and frequency of many of these problems.
This table provides a list of serious health outcomes that occur more frequently or at a younger age in people with diabetes than in people without diabetes. Note that the table shows all possible things that might occur over a lifetime. Because these outcomes also occur in people without diabetes as they age, many doctors think of diabetes as a disease that can accelerate or speed up the aging process. Most importantly, evidence that modern therapies can reduce the likelihood of many of these outcomes suggests that they may slow this aging process.
In addition to the problems in the table, one other important problem may not be recognized by people with diabetes and their healthcare provider. This is the emotional, mental, and financial, cost of dealing with diabetes over many years. Many people with diabetes feel guilt or shame about having diabetes or about how they are treating it. Moreover, even with the best drug plans, people with diabetes need more doctor visits and spend more money than unaffected people. As stated elsewhere on Knowing-Diabetes.com, people are not to blame for having or developing diabetes. And if they are doing their best to manage it, that is good enough.
The next piece will discuss proven ways to reduce the likelihood of these problems from ever developing.
About the author
Hertzel Gerstein
Hertzel is an endocrinologist and professor at McMaster University who is in high demand as a speaker, advocate, and educator on diabetes-related topics. His research focuses on using large, international randomized trials to identify and test new ways of preventing type 2 diabetes, reducing serious health outcomes like strokes and death, and achieving type 2 diabetes remissions.
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Diabetes is a disease defined by an elevated glucose level. The symptoms that people experience as a result depend on the degree of elevation – higher levels usually mean more symptoms, but this varies from person to person. Unfortunately, these symptoms are not specific. Thus, they could be due to a wide variety of different...
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Diabetes Basics Part 4: How Common is Diabetes and Why Does it Develop?
Unfortunately, diabetes is extremely common. Approximately 1 in 10 people aged 20 and over throughout the world have diabetes. This is an average with numbers varying by age, country, ethnic origin or ancestry, weight, weight distribution, socioeconomic status, and medical history. In Canada the number is 1 in 10 adults, and 1 in 5 over...
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