About one third of adults in England are at high risk of developing diabetes, researchers warn today.
"Pre-diabetes" rates among English adults soared from about 12% in 2003 to 35% in 2011, according to research carried out at the University of Florida, USA, and the University of Leicester, UK.
People are said to have pre-diabetes when their blood glucose levels show signs of being high.
The rise has been described by Dr Arch G Mainous III, the study’s lead author and chair of the department of health services research, management and policy at UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, as “rapid” and “exceptionally surprising”.
"It suggests that if something doesn’t happen, there is going to be a huge increase in the prevalence of diabetes,” he said.
Richard Baker, professor of quality in healthcare at the University of Leicester Department of Health Sciences and co-author of the study, which is published in today’s edition of BMJ Open, said their findings showed that people in England had to improve their diet and lifestyles.
“If we don’t, many people will have less healthy, shorter lives,” he added.
Pre-diabetes is defined as having blood glucose concentrations higher than normal, but not high enough for a diabetes diagnosis. People with prediabetes are at greater risk than those with normal blood glucose levels of vascular problems, kidney disease, and nerve and retinal damage.
Each year, between 5% and 10% of people diagnosed with the condition will go on to develop diabetes.
Researchers analysed data collected in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2011 by the Health Survey for England. This population-based survey combines questionnaires with physical measurements and blood tests.
The researchers classified survey participants as having pre-diabetes if they had a blood glucose level between 5.7 and 6.4% and if they indicated they had not previously been diagnosed with diabetes.
The 2011 data showed that 35% of English adults and more than 50% of those over the age of 40 and were overweight had prediabetes. They also found that people with lower socioeconomic status were at substantial risk for having it.
Manious III A et al. Prevalence of prediabetes in England from 2003 to 2011: population-based, cross-sectional study. BMJOpen 2014;4:e005002. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005002 [abstract]
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