|
|
- Home
- Public Health
- Report of the Chief Health Officer
-
Diabetes data book
Diabetes data book
The Health of the people of New South Wales
Report of the Chief Health Officer
Download the Diabetes data book
Summary
|
- In NSW in 2007, 7.8% of males and 6.5% of females aged 16 years and over reported having diabetes or high blood sugar. It is likely that there are also many people with diabetes in NSW who are not yet aware they have it.
- Diabetes prevalence increases with age and socioeconomic disadvantage and is more prevalent among Aboriginal peoples, and people born in the Mediterranean region.
- For people with diabetes, careful control of blood sugar levels through diet, exercise, and in some cases medication and insulin injections, is vital to prevent complications. In NSW in 2006, around 60% of people with diabetes reported following a special diet, 43% reported taking tablets to manage their diabetes, around 11% required insulin injections, and 8% reported 'not doing anything'.
- Control of risk factors for cardiovascular disease is particularly important for people with diabetes. In NSW in 2006 and 2007, people with diabetes reported lower rates of current smoking to those without diabetes (by almost 3%) but had higher levels of inadequate physical activity (around 49% compared with around 43%) and reported a much higher rate of overweight and obesity (over 71% compared with around 47%).
- While diabetes was the principal cause of 2% of all deaths in NSW in 2006, 2291 or almost 5% of all deaths in that year were related to diabetes. Cardiovascular disease was the most common cause of death among people with diabetes.
- Hospitalisations for which diabetes was recorded as a principal diagnosis increased by 160% between 1989-90 and 2006-07. Hospitalisation rates were highest in the Greater Western Area Health Service and lowest in the South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service.
- While Type 2 diabetes accounts for up to 90% of all diabetes cases in the community, it accounts for only around 71% of all hospitalisations for diabetes. Type 1 diabetes accounts for around 20% of hospitalisations and gestational diabetes around 8%. Hospitalisation rates for Type 1 diabetes have however been reasonably stable over the last five years while those for Type 2 diabetes have risen each year.
- The complications of diabetes include poor blood circulation and nerve function in the limbs, eye problems, and kidney failure. There were 865 hospital admissions for lower extremity amputations and 9,448 hospitalisations for eye complications in people with diabetes in 2006-07.
|
 |
File link: Diabetes data book
File size: &booksize
Type: Report
Date of Publication: &bookdate
Author Branch: Centre for Epidemiology & Research
Related links
|
|
