MILLIONS are living with diabetes unknowingly, new research has revealed, putting them at risk of heart attacks and going blind.
In Britain alone, one in four are missing a diagnosis.
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Diabetes is when the body does not make enough insulin or does not use it properly.
Sugar then builds up in the blood and quietly damages the heart, eyes, kidneys and nerves.
Left untreated, the disease raises the chance of heart attacks and strokes, can scar the kidneys, damage the feet and can rob people of their sight.
A new global study found around 45 per cent of people with the disease worldwide do not know they have it.
This means as many as 248 million could be walking around with sky-high blood sugar and no idea.
The disease can creep along silently for years, with symptoms easy to shrug off like going to the loo more, being thirsty, tiredness, blurry vision and cuts that take ages to heal.
Published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, the analysis of 204 countries shows only 55.8 per cent of people with diabetes are diagnosed.
Of those diagnosed, 91 per cent get treatment, yet only about 41.6 per cent of treated patients hit safe blood sugar levels, needed to keep the disease at bay.
That adds up to just 21 per cent of everyone with diabetes having their condition under proper control.
Most cases are type 2, where the body becomes less sensitive to insulin and, over time, cannot make enough to keep blood sugar in check.
This form of the disease is more likely among older people, those carrying extra weight, those with a family history and people with certain ethnic backgrounds.
Most people with type 2 begin treatment by improving their diet and being more active, and some later need insulin if lifestyle changes don’t work.
Type 1 is different: the immune system attacks the cells that make insulin, it can appear at any age, and people need insulin from day one.
“By 2050, 1.3 billion people are expected to be living with diabetes, and if nearly half do not know they have a serious and potentially deadly health condition, it could easily become a silent epidemic,” said Lauryn Stafford of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
The study shows young adults with the disease are most likely to be missed, with the lowest share diagnosed.
Diagnosis improves with age, but because diabetes is most common in the forties and fifties, the biggest pool of undiagnosed people is in midlife.
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Men trail women on diagnosis at roughly 52 per cent versus 60 per cent, though once treated both sexes see similar control of the disease.
There was also variation across the world; North America had the highest diagnosis rate, at 83 per cent, and West Africa as low as 10 per cent, with Western Europe sitting at 77 per cent.
How to test for diabetes
The only way you can find out if you or a loved one has diabetes is from blood tests that measure your blood glucose (sugar) levels.
These can be arranged through your GP surgery.
A diagnosis of diabetes is always confirmed by laboratory results. You’ll usually get the results of your blood test back in a few days.
If you have symptoms that came on quickly and you’ve been taken into hospital, the results should come back in an hour or two.
A normal blood test result will show you don’t have diabetes. But the result could also indicate that you are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Among those who know they have it, Saudi Arabia gets treatment to 98.4 per cent of patients.
Kazakhstan leads for control among people on treatment, with 68.3 per cent meeting blood sugar targets.
But counting everyone with diabetes, not just those treated, only 29 of 204 countries get more than 30 per cent to target, with Argentina topping that list at 46.9 per cent.
Since 2000 there has been progress in catching cases, but it has been slow.
Diagnosis is up 8.3 percentage points and treatment among those diagnosed is up 7.2 points, while control has inched up just 1.3 points.
The number living with undiagnosed diabetes has surged by about 73 per cent, from 143 million in 2000 to 248 million in 2023, the study estimates.
How to lower your risk of type 2 diabetes
According to Diabetes UK, there are a few diet tweaks you can make to lower your risk of type 2 diabetes:
- Choose drinks without added sugar – skip out the sugar in your tea and coffee and stay away from fizzy and energy drinks
- Eat whole grains such as brown rice, wholewheat pasta, wholemeal flour, wholegrain bread and oats instead of refined carbs
- Cut down on red and processed meat like bacon, ham, sausages, pork, beef and lamb
- Eat plenty of fruit and veg – apples, grapes, berries, and green leafy veg such as spinach, kale, watercress, and rocket have been associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes
- Have unsweetened yoghurt and cheese
- Cut down on booze – and have a few days a week with none at all
- Have healthy snacks like unsweetened yoghurt, unsalted nuts, seeds and fruit and veg
- Eat healthy fats included in nuts, seeds, avocados and olive oil
- Cut down on salt
- Get your vitamins and minerals from food instead of tablets
