13.45% of the Dominican population suffers from diabetes
Ammar Ibrahim, the director of the National Diabetes Endocrinology and Nutrition Institute, noted that 13.45% of the Dominican population suffers from diabetes in some form or another. He insisted that the nation’s eating habits need to be improved to counter the surge of this very serious illness. He said that in addition to the 13.45% that suffer from actual diabetes, 9.3% have a condition known as pre-diabetes something that generally appears in patients after 50 years of age. He said: “Diabetes by itself produces little direct fatalities but, the majority of diabetic patients die from a heart attack, kidney failure, or brain hemorrhaging, conditions that were worsened by being diabetic. He made the comments on occasion of August being “Diabetes Month.”
The specialist also noted that families suffer when a member is diagnosed with diabetes. Such a diagnosis alters the lifestyle of the person diagnosed and also all of those around the patient.
José Rodriguez, the president of the Dominican Diabetic Society, said that the causes of this illness, beyond genetics, are related to a lack of exercise and the poor diet. He complained of the sedentary lifestyle, the epidemic of overweight and obese people and the unhealthy diet, together with genetics as the root causes of diabetes.
Dr. Noris Solano added that juvenile diabetes is a silent disease that is affecting more and more children and adolescence without any regard for geography or social class. She estimated that between eight and 10% of the juvenile population are affected by diabetes.
Source: DR1
Aug 2, 2018
Category: DR News |