The number of diabetic adults in the world has surpassed 800 million, more than quadrupling since 1990, according to a study released today by the World Health Organization (WHO), which warns of "an alarming increase" in diabetes.
The analysis by the global network of health scientists NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC), with support from the WHO, argues for the "urgent need for stronger global action" to combat "the diabetes epidemic" and expand the treatment.
"To control the global diabetes epidemic, countries must take urgent measures: early detection and treatment", highlights the director-general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, cited in a statement.
According to the official, there has been "an alarming increase in diabetes in the last three decades".
This increase "reflects the increase in obesity, aggravated by the impacts of the marketing of unhealthy foods, the lack of physical activity and economic difficulties", he maintains.
The study, published in the scientific journal The Lancet, as part of World Diabetes Day, states that the global prevalence of diabetes in adults increased from 7% to 14% between 1990 and 2022.
Developing countries have "registered the largest increases" while access to treatment remains persistently low.
In 2022, nearly 450 million adults ages 30 and older -- about 59% of adults with diabetes -- remained untreated, marking a 3.5-fold increase in the number of people going untreated since 1990.
The study highlights that 90% of untreated adults live in developing countries. Southeast Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and the WHO African Region have the lowest diabetes treatment coverage rates, with only about four in ten diabetics taking glucose-lowering medications.
To respond to the growing number of adults with diabetes, WHO today also introduces "a new global monitoring framework" that represents "a crucial step in the global response, providing comprehensive guidance to countries in measuring and evaluating prevention, care, outcomes and impacts.”
"This standardized approach allows countries to prioritize resources effectively, driving significant improvements in diabetes prevention and care," he emphasizes.
In 2022, the WHO set five global diabetes coverage targets to be achieved by 2030. One of these targets is to ensure that 80% of people with diagnosed diabetes achieve good glycemic control.
The NCD-RisC trial is the first global analysis of trends in diabetes rates and treatment coverage, drawing on data from more than 140 million people aged 18 and over, included in more than 1,000 studies covering populations of all countries.
In Portugal, around 75 thousand people were diagnosed with diabetes in 2023, bringing the total number of diabetics registered in primary health care to more than 900 thousand, the highest figure ever in the country.
The data is contained in the 2024 report of the National Diabetes Program (PND) of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), which will be presented today and which indicates that in 2023, 75,661 new diagnoses of the disease were recorded in mainland Portugal.
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