Disturbing trend of growing number of diabetes patients - Health DG

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said an estimated 537 million adults aged 20 to 79 are suffering from diabetes in 2021 globally.

"The International Diabetes Federation expects this number to reach a total of 643 million people by the year 2030, and a total of 783 million patients by the year 2045," he said in a statement today.

He said about 3.9 million (18.3 per cent) adults aged 18 and above have diabetes in the country and almost half of the diabetics are unaware of their disease status.

According to him, the detection of diabetes and the early treatment is important in the management of the disease to help prevent complications and premature death because the longer a person has untreated diabetes, the higher the risk of complications and premature death.

He said, a report from The Direct Healthcare Cost of Non-communicable Diseases in Malaysia which was released recently estimated that RM4.38 billion (45.38 per cent of the total cost) was spent for the year 2017 on diabetes treatment.

"The burden of this cost is expected to continue increasing if appropriate actions are not taken to prevent and control the disease.

Meanwhile, he said the National Health Screening Initiative (NHSI) had screened a total of 355,887 people aged 40 years and above at MOH facilities and found that 195,215 (54.85 per cent) were confirmed to have non-communicable diseases (NCD) before the screening.

Whereas, 137,380 (38.6 per cent) individuals are NCD-free but are found to have NCD risk factors such as weight problems or obesity, smoking, high blood pressure readings, sugar levels and cholesterol levels that exceed normal levels and another 23,293 (6.55 per cent) are healthy where the factors NCD risk are not detected.

In addition, a total of 210,414 individuals under the age of 40 were screened during the same period and it was found that 84,395 (40.11 per cent) were confirmed to have NCDs before screening; 97,158 (46.14 percent) have NCD risk factors while, 28,931 (13.75 per cent) individuals are healthy.

Thus, MOH launched the National Level World Diabetes Day celebration with the theme Access to Diabetes Care - Education to Protect Tomorrow to raise awareness in the community about the importance of access to diabetes care.

The Ministry of Health calls on the public to take this opportunity to check their Body Mass Index (BMI), blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels at any nearby health facility.