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Global disease burden reveals deaths from diabetes increasing
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Deaths from diabetes have risen more than 30% over the past decade, and poor diet was associated with almost 20% of all deaths, according to the latest global estimates for the state of the world’s health, recently published in The Lancet.
The reports provide both global and national estimates on more than 330 diseases, causes of death and injuries in 195 countries and territories.
“Our findings indicate people are living longer, and over the past decade, we identified substantial progress in driving down death rates from some of the world’s most pernicious diseases and conditions, such as under age 5 [years] mortality and malaria,” Christopher Murray, MD, DPhil, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said in a press release. “Yet, despite this progress, we are facing a triad of trouble holding back many nations and communities — obesity, conflict and mental illness, including substance use disorders.”
According to the report on disability for 328 diseases and injuries, 1.43 million deaths globally were caused by diabetes, which was an increase of 31.1% since 2006.
According to the report on 84 behavioral, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks, 18.8% of deaths were associated with poor diet. The most common dietary risk factors were diets low in whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds, and fish oils and high in salt. The top 10 leading risk factors for death for men and women globally included high blood glucose, high blood pressure, high BMI and high total cholesterol.
Endocrine Today compiled a list of topics in endocrinology referring to worldwide causes of death, disease and illness.
Studies show diabetes screenings do not reduce mortality, CVD in general population
At the population level, screening for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk does not have an impact on mortality or cardiovascular disease incidence, although researchers observed screening benefits among those who were diagnosed with diabetes, according to three population-based studies conducted in Denmark and Sweden.
“Population-level screening programs for type 2 diabetes in high-income countries are not justified,” Rebecca K. Simmons, PhD, of the department of public health, section of general practice at Aarhus University, Denmark, told Endocrine Today. “Clinicians should continue to opportunistically test patients who they suspect of having diabetes or who are at high risk of diabetes, recognizing the benefits of an earlier diagnosis and treatment.”
Sugar-sweetened, diet beverage intake linked to latent autoimmune diabetes, type 2 diabetes
Adults who drink at least two sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages per day may have doubled their risk for developing latent autoimmune diabetes or type 2 diabetes, according to results from a population-based, case-control study in Sweden.
“These findings add support to the accumulating evidence suggesting that high intake of sweetened beverages, both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened, is a potential risk factor for type 2 diabetes,” Josefin Edwall Löfvenborg, MSc, a nutritionist and doctoral researcher at the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and colleagues wrote. “Importantly, these findings indicate that the adverse health effects seen with high sweetened beverage intake also encompass autoimmune forms of diabetes. The excess risk seems not to be fully explained by caloric intake or BMI, opening up for other explanations possibly including direct adverse effects of sweetened beverages on glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity.”
High-protein diet in middle age may increase risk for diabetes, cancer, mortality
A diet high or moderate in animal-derived protein may increase the risk for diabetes, cancer and all-cause mortality, according to study data published in Cell Metabolism.
Morgan E. Levine, PhD, of the Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California, and colleagues assessed data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which followed 6,381 adults aged at least 50 years for nearly 2 decades. The mean age of the study participants was 65 years.
Obesity affects more than half of US adults
More than half of U.S. adults currently have obesity or have had the condition at some point in their lifetime, suggesting that the population burden of obesity is larger than indicated by data on current BMI, according to an analysis of survey data published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
“Prior research has found that the health effects of obesity are cumulative, implying that a member of the normal-weight category who was formerly overweight or obese may be at higher risk of experiencing obesity-related health outcomes than those who have always maintained normal weight,” Andrew Stokes, PhD, assistant professor in the department of global health and an affiliate of the Center for Global Health and Development at the Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues wrote. “Additionally, some people who have experienced weight loss may have done so as a result of age-related loss of lean muscle mass, known as sarcopenia, or an illness, with disease-associated weight loss particularly prevalent among older ages and in certain high-risk subpopulations, such as smokers and those with a history of illness.”
Red meat, poultry consumption increases type 2 diabetes risk
Ethnic Chinese adults who substituted one daily serving of red meat or poultry with fish or shellfish decreased their risk for type 2 diabetes by approximately 25%, according to findings published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Woon-Puay Koh, MBBS, PhD, professor at Duke-NUS Medical School and the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore, and colleagues evaluated data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study on 45,411 adults (mean age, 55.2 years; 57.3% women) to determine the relationships between red meat, poultry, fish and shellfish intakes with the risk for type 2 diabetes. Follow-up was a mean 10.9 years.
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All four Global Disease Burden reports can be viewed at www.thelancet.com/gbd.