Middle-Aged Men are twice as likely to suffer type 2 diabetes
Monday, 13th July 2009
A recently published study by Diabetes UK revealed that Men aged 35-54 are almost twice as likely to have diabetes compared to their female counterparts.
Statistics show that 2.4 per cent (around 92,960) of men in England aged 35-44 have diabetes compared to 1.2 per cent (around 47,000) of women of the same age, and 6 per cent (around 197,050) of men aged 45 - 54 have diabetes compared to 3.6 per cent (around 120,670) of women their age.
Within men between the ages of 35 - 44 diabetes has risen four times faster than in women of the same age, and that consistently, more men are overweight than women.
Approximately 90 per cent of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, which is strongly linked to lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise levels. It can be genetic but many people are overweight when they are diagnosed.
Research shows that losing weight can reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes in those at high risk by 58 per cent and physical activity can reduce the risk by 64 per cent.
Risk factors include:
- being over 40 years old
- or over 25 if you`re Black, Asian or from an ethnic minority group
- having a large waist
- having a family history of the condition
A total of 2.5 million people are diagnosed with diabetes in the UK and around 500,000 more have the condition but are unaware of it.
Type 2 diabetes can lay undetected for a decade or longer and around half of people already have complications by the time they are diagnosed. these complications include heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation.
Keywords: diabetes, type 2, study,
