Dubai: The largest study on diabetes ever carried out in the UAE is set for release by summer next year, says one of the study’s chief authors.
Health authorities in UAE have long been concerned by the country’s high levels of diabetes, currently the 16th highest in the world, World Health Organisation figures show.
And the rise in cases shows no signs of slowing down.
An estimated one in five people in the UAE — 19 per cent of the population — is estimated to have the disease, which makes the body unable to control blood sugar levels.
The UAE hopes to lower this number to 16 per cent by 2021.
Diabetes has two main forms: Type 1, which usually starts from a young age, and Type 2, which typically occurs later in life. Type 2 diabetes makes up about 90 per cent of cases. While both are treatable with insulin, a hormone, there is no known cure.
Serious long-term complications faced by diabetics include heart disease, strokes, and kidney failure.
The nation-wide study examines a large sample size of 6,250 people — both citizens and expatriates — which the researchers believe represents the UAE as a whole.
The study’s participation represents a “huge number compared with all the studies that have been done before”, said Dr Salah Abusnana, the study’s principal investigator.
Why is the study so important?
Despite the sky-high rates of diabetes in the UAE, a lack of significant data halts policy-makers and experts from dealing with it, Abusana said.
“We have to be honest here. We have data, but it’s scattered and scant data,” he added.
The Libyan doctor, who was speaking on the sidelines of a Ministry of Health conference on Saturday in Dubai, also serves as a medical director at the Rashid Centre for Diabetes in Ajman, and as consultant at University Hospital Sharjah.
Initial research in the study, backed by the Ministry of Health, started three years ago. Its conclusions on the number of diabetics across the country, and the key causes are set to be released in “eight to ten months”, according to Abusana.
Medical experts always point to what they believe are two main causes of diabetes: unhealthy diets and lack of exercise, coupled with genetic factors.
Data from the survey so far paints a dark picture. “I suspect that lifestyle is the main drive [towards diabetes in the UAE],” Abusana said. His comments were echoed at the same conference by Dr Brent Egan, a US-based consultant endocrinologist.
Egan showed projections that predict that the Middle East, along with Pakistan, is set for a massive 263 per cent increase in diabetes rates by 2030 — a larger jump than any other region.
And the causes behind the “global phenomenon” of diabetes can be summed up in “just three words”, Egan said.
“Excess, excess, excess,” the doctor told the audience of around 100 UAE-based medical professionals.
“Excess calories, sugar fats, salt, labour-saving devices, and passive entertainment. Wherever these conditions exist, humans have not figured out how to survive it.”
