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(CNN) — It’s a potentially fatal disease whose risks can in many cases be prevented through lifestyle measures. So why has diabetes seen a massive increase in sufferers?
The number of people living with the potentially fatal disease has quadrupled since 1980, to more than 400 million, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Worldwide, diabetes killed 1.5 million in 2012 alone, with high blood-glucose causing another 2.2 million deaths, the organization says.
In its first Global Diabetes Report, the WHO says a “whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach” is required to tackle the disease, which costs an estimated $827 billion annually in patient care and medicine.
The WHO report, published in the medical journal Lancet, also highlights inequalities between countries, as diagnoses and medicine are more accessible in high-income nations.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic disease caused by the body’s failure to produce enough insulin to regulate blood glucose — or blood sugar.
Raised blood glucose can eventually damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves. Abnormally low blood glucose can cause seizures and loss of consciousness.
Type 1 diabetes is not currently preventable and sufferers require daily administration of insulin to survive.
Type 2 diabetes — which results from the body’s ineffective use of insulin — is far more common and can be influenced by lifestyle as well as genetic and metabolic factors.
Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glycemia (IFG) are elevated glucose levels not yet at the level of diabetes but which nonetheless increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Additionally, pregnant woman can develop gestational diabetes, increasing the risk of complications and the long-term risk of type 2 diabetes.
Why is diabetes on the rise?
The WHO says that between 1980 and 2014, the percentage of adults with diabetes increased from 4.7% of the global population to 8.5% (from 108 million to 422 million).The rise, it says, mirrors “the global increase in the number of people who are overweight or obese.”
Limited competition between a small number of multinational manufacturers can increase prices, with low-income countries generally paying the most for the treatment, it says.
“Nearly three-quarters (72%) of countries have a national diabetes policy that is implemented with dedicated funding, and countries are also taking action at the policy level to address unhealthy diets and physical inactivity,” it says.
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