WHO launched a real alarm on emergency diabetes: the disease of the rich world, caused by a metabolic disorder that leads high concentration of sugars in the blood and severe complications (that sometimes end up with fatal outcomes), has now assumed the proportions of an epidemic. In its first comprehensive report on the disease WHO shows that in 2014 the number of patients had reached 422 million, nearly four times the number established in 1980. In 1980, people with diabetes were 108 million. The disease – insidious because often is without noticeable symptoms – caused 1.5 million deaths in 2012, but in the same year was indirectly responsible for another 2.2 million deaths. Despite the progress of science and research, the prevalence of diabetes is expected to increase for the lifestyle changes, from “how and how much people eat, move and live.” The survey shows, moreover, that between 1980 and 2014, diabetes has increased its incidence in men than women, and that the disease rates grew up significantly in many low and middle income countries, including China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Mexico. Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, said that the results indicate the urgency of addressing both the poor diet that lifestyle, worldwide. The study also found that the North West Europe has the lowest rates of diabetes among women and men, with a prevalence adjusted for under 4% of women and 5-6% among men in Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. However, in no country of the world there has been a significant reduction in the incidence of this disease.
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