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Diabetes has become a very common health problem. It has
been estimated that by 2010 there will be more than 220 million
diabetics worldwide. In the UK around 1.3 million people are
already diagnosed with diabetes. More than 90% of diabetics
have type 2 diabetes (which is also called non-insulin dependent
diabetes mellitus, NIDDM, or maturity onset diabetes).
The main reasons for the rapid rise in type 2 diabetes as
a major health problem are not fully understood. Diet and
lifestyle, leading to an ever-increasing number of people
who are overweight or obese, is often put forward as the cause.
However, some ethnic groups are particularly susceptible to
diabetes, indicating that genetic factors also play an important
part.
Many refer to type 2 diabetes as the ‘mild form’
of diabetes. However, people with type 2 diabetes are much
more likely to suffer complications, particularly heart disease
and stroke, than patients with type 1 diabetes (also known
as juvenile onset or insulin-dependent diabetes). Therefore,
much more intensive efforts need to be made to prevent diabetes
and diagnose those at risk of complications at an earlier
stage.
The most important complications of diabetes are heart disease,
kidney disease, peripheral vascular disease, neuropathy and
blindness. These are major problems for diabetics that severely
affect their quality of life and life expectancy. Treatment
of diabetes needs to do more than manage blood sugar levels.
Unfortunately many of the vascular changes start to occur
in patients at risk of developing diabetes before diagnosis
and, crucially, before appropriate preventative treatment
can be started.
The William Harvey Research Foundation already funds
research on the early diagnosis of diabetic vascular complications.
To increase progress in this area more funds are needed to
support research to understand the factors that cause damage
to blood vessels in diabetics. This will provide new and more
sensitive methods for the early diagnosis of patients at risk
of complications. These new blood tests will identify patients
that are most in need of new protective medicines, and will
help monitor the response to new treatments during clinical
trials.
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