Diabetes- Behind the scenes Killer ?

With time and progress even Yamaraj ( the Indian God of Death) has changed his ways. In early and mid 20th century the main cause of death used to be Infectious diseases, but the Antibiotic era has changed the situation, people are able to survive most of the infections and live longer, But here they get caught by the so called Non Communicable Diseases. Perhaps here that Yamraj is using Diabetes to its full potential...
Diabetes is a Silent Killer- it kills in more ways than one. Complications of Diabetes like Heart Diseases, Stroke, Chronic Kidney disease, all may cause death and considerable morbidity and may yet not be recognized as related to Diabetes in statistics..

Non Communicable Diseases or NCD’s are the major killers the world over responsible for about 63% of deaths worldwide according to World Health Organization. These diseases are not passed on from person to person, they are chronic in nature and of slow progression. NCD’s are divided in 4 major categories, cardiovascular, Cancers, Chronic Lung Diseases and Diabetes.

According to the numbers provided by the WHO, more than half of the recorded deaths – 53%  in India in the year 2010 were due to NCD’s, 24% due to CVD- cardio Vascular Diseases, 11% due to Respiratory disease, 6 % due to Cancers, 2% due to Diabetes and 10% due to other NCD’s like Alcohol abuse etc..

Diabetes occupies a special place in the whole gamut of Non Communicable Diseases, since the root cause of major Cardiovascular Diseases is same as that of Diabetes, Insulin resistance. Most of the Diabetics die due to Cardiovascular Diseases ( Heart Attack, Stroke) rather than Diabetes itself. So the actual nos. of death attributable to Diabetes is much more than the figures identified in the above mentioned.

NCD’s are responsible for more than 36 million deaths worldwide, of which 60-80% occur in the low to middle income countries. Not only this the NCD’s are “catching their victims young”- about 9 million deaths occur in persons less than 60 years of age.

Thus they steal away the breadwinners at the time a family is in need and my hurl the dependants into woes of poverty

Non communicable diseases prove a challenge to the developing economies, they may throw or entrench large sections of population in poverty, due to the catastrophic costs associated with these diseases. 

Fortunately the future may not be that bleak if we try hard, deaths from NCD’s are potentially preventable. Most of the risk factors which lead to Non Communicable diseases are modifiable. The major risk factors being Obesity, excess weight, High Levels of Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, High Blood Sugar, Excessive Alcohol use, Tobacco use, Physical inactivity.  Thus about three quarters of Heart Attacks, Strokes, Type 2 Diabetes  and about 40% of Cancers may be prevented by acting on these modifiable risk factors.

Weight- 1.5 billion adults and about 43 million children under the age of 5 were overweight in 2010

Tobacco use caused about 6 million deaths every year and the figure is expected to rise to 7.5 million by 2020- causing 10% deaths.

The key to longevity is prevention of these diseases and treating them at early stages, And lead a healthy and active life at all costs...