11:00am Wednesday 8th September 2010
By Andy Edgeworth
THOUSANDS of Cumbrians are believed to have undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes – putting them at risk of ‘devastating’ health problems, a charity has warned.
According to Diabetes UK, there are 31,902 people with diabetes in Cumbria and 34 per cent of them (an estimated 10,900 – the highest in the North West) are thought to have undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes, which can lead to blindness, amputation, kidney failure, stroke, and heart disease.
Type 2 diabetes can go undet-ected for up to 10 years, and about half of people already show signs of complications when they are diagnosed.
Julie Byron, Diabetes UK North West regional manager, said: “This new estimate of 10,900 undiagnosed Type 2 cases in Cumbria is truly alarming.
“Primary Care Trusts need to better prioritise screening of ‘at risk’ groups and improve uptake of programmes such as NHS Health Checks.
“We also urgently need more initiatives in the North West, such as the Diabetes UK Meas-ure Up campaign, to raise awareness of the risk factors and symptoms of Type 2 diab-etes and encourage people at risk to go to their GP for a simple diabetes test.
“We face a bleak future of spiralling NHS costs and wors-ening public health if diagnosis rates for Type 2 diabetes do not improve.
“Diabetes is serious, but once people are diagnosed and start managing it, there is every reason they can live long, and healthy, lives,” added Ms Byron.
The symptoms of diabetes include going to the toilet (urinating) more often and especially at night, increased thirst, extreme tiredness, unexp-lained weight loss, genital itch-ing, or regular episodes of thrush, slow healing of cuts and wounds, and blurred vision.
Diabetes UK hopes the Depar-tment of Health’s NHS Health Checks programme, targeting people between the ages of 40 and 74, will help identify more people with Type 2 diabetes.
The charity also wants to see improved access to health services for the many comm-unities in the UK who currently, because of their social or ethnic backgrounds, may be excluded from mainstream services.
It is also important that diabetes testing and diabetes awareness programmes are available through a variety of settings, such as pharmacies and local outreach services.
For more information about diabetes visit www.diabetes.org.uk
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